Wingman
by HiKari Mokuba's Guardian
Summary: He hated that Mokuba was leaving... but Seto hated himself more for not wanting him to go. Mokuba deserved to go to college, but Seto doesn't know what kind of life he's supposed to live now. Seto isn't the only one with this problem; Joey has been left behind too. Will an unlikely alliance force these two out of their comfort zones or will they kill each other first?
1. Chapter 1: Acceptance

**Chapter 1: Acceptance**

 _He wasn't just crying—he was wailing. No person in the orphanage could soothe him when he got that way. The boy would cry all night if he had to. His stringy, black hair stuck to his tear-stained cheeks as he continued to sob in the middle of the night. A nightmare was what woke the purple-eyed five-year old… the boy seemed to have a lot of those since the caretakers of the orphanage decided to separate him from his older brother at night. They felt it would be better for him to spend more time with kids his own age._

 _"Mokuba, I'm here." Mokuba felt a pair of arms wrap around him from behind and his wails instantly came to a halt. Instinctively, the boy twisted around and buried his face in the chest of his older brother, Seto. Mokuba shamelessly wiped away his tears in Seto's shirt, becoming enveloped in the familiar embrace. His whimpers softened as the ten-year old with messy brown hair rocked him back and forth, humming a melody that Mokuba didn't recognize._

 _"Nii-sama…" Mokuba whispered, calling his brother by the name he had addressed him since birth, "I had another dream again. A bad one." Mokuba began to hyperventilate as the memories of the dream started to come back to him. The older boy's hold on him became tighter, still humming the melody to keep him calm._

 _"I saw Mom and Dad again… I saw them… they were…" Mokuba was choking on every other word as the tears came forth once more. Seto stopped his humming but continued his rocking. The more Mokuba tried to say, the more overwhelmed he became with emotion. The images from his dream were so vivid in his mind._

 _"Mokuba, it's going to be okay. You're going to be okay," Seto loosened his hold on Mokuba and the boy looked up at his brother, bewildered. How was anything supposed to be okay? How could it? Their parents were buried in the ground and they were never coming back. Seto and Mokuba were going to be alone for the rest of their lives…_

 _"How can you say that?" Mokuba asked, verbalizing what he was already thinking and feeling. Seto put his hand on the side of Mokuba's face, and smiled. There was something about that smile that had an instant effect on Mokuba—one that caused his tears to cease immediately._

 _"Because we have each other, and that's all that will ever matter. Do you remember what I told you yesterday? I will be your father now. I will protect you with all that I am and I promise to give you a better life. This isn't the end for us." Mokuba inadvertently smiled in response—he knew his brother was telling the truth. Mokuba leaned forward and gave Seto a hug. Seto returned the hug and closed his eyes. He had meant every word he said, and knew that he would never let anything get in the way of the promise he made to…_

"Nii-sama, are you in there?" The brochure in Seto's hand flipped out of his grip and fell to the floor. His blue eyes looked up to see two pairs of eyes staring back at him—one belonging to his 18-year old brother and the other belonging to a 40-year old college counselor that went by the name Hanzo. Both of them appeared to be confused, perhaps even concerned, and Seto knew the best way to segue out of the awkward situation was by pulling, what Seto called, a 'Kaiba move.'

"Of course I'm in here, but what I want to know is, what duel monsters courses do you offer here? I'm sure you know that Mokuba here is related to a top-ranking duelist." Hanzo looked at Mokuba before looking back at Seto.

"Mr. Kaiba, you do realize this is Domino University and not Duel Academy, right? We don't offer any courses in Duel Monsters. I will say, however, that we do have a fair number of social groups that Mokuba would be able to join centered around Duel Monsters…" Hanzo turned back towards Mokuba and began explaining all of the various social groups that were available at Domino University and the pressure to cover up his daydream was lifted. Seto let out a sigh of relief before bending over and picking up the brochure that fell.

Mokuba could go to any university he wanted to. This was one of the many universities they had visited over the last couple of months, in fact. Each brochure looked the same and the feeling in the pit of Seto's stomach continued to grow. None of the ones they had visited really appealed to Seto. Domino University was quickly becoming another one he wasn't a fan of as Hanzo walked them through some of the educational programs they offered. Seto kept his mouth shut until the meeting with the college counselor was over and the brothers were back in the car, driving home.

"When are you going to admit that you don't like any college we've visited because you don't want me to go to college?" Mokuba said, crossing his arms and refusing to look in Seto's direction as they conversed. The trees that were passing by as they drove served as a momentary distraction. Mokuba hoped that the scenery would help calm him down as he tried to contain his frustration that was quickly turning into anger.

"I just don't see you have to go to college right away. Why don't you take a gap year and work at Kaiba Corp. full-time for a while? You might like being able to fully take on the role of vice president." Mokuba snapped his head back towards Seto.

"Seto, I don't want to work at Kaiba Corp. I want to go to college. I want to learn things and meet new people and create memories and… how many times do I have to tell you that I don't want to work at Kaiba Corp.?" Mokuba was thankful that Domino University was not that far of a drive from Kaiba Manor because he was really becoming angry. Seto had this way of arguing in a circular fashion. Mokuba loved his older but there were some aspects of his personality that really got on his nerves. Seto's stubbornness was definitely one of them and his inability to empathize with Mokuba was another.

"I just don't see why. It's a lot of money to be spending on an education you don't need. You're already more intelligent than most of your peers—you're related to me after all."

"Don't you dare bring up money like that's the reason you want me to work at Kaiba Corp. and are you suggesting I'm too smart to get a higher education? Are you even listening to yourself right now?" Mokuba voice was rising as his rage level was. They pulled into the manor and Seto parked the car in the driveway before speaking.

"I just don't understand why you would want to waste your time with school when you could help run the most profitable company in all of Domino City. Any kid would kill to do that instead of having to go to school." Mokuba unbuckled his seat and opened the door. "What? Are you disagreeing with me? Mokuba, come back here. Let's finish talking. I don't want to fight with you." Mokuba had gotten out of the car by then, but turned back before closing the door.

"I don't want to fight with you either, but when you take everything I say and ignore it, there's no sense in talking to you," Mokuba said, his words strangely calm and collected. The tone of his voice was so disengaged that it made Seto suddenly rethink what he had said. "I know Kaiba Corp. is your entire life, but it's not mine." Mokuba slammed the door shut and walked away from the car. The force of the door slamming shook the car and Seto leaned his head against the steering wheel. He wanted to understand Mokuba but he didn't know how.

Seto twisted the key in the ignition and started the car. There was no point talking with Mokuba right now. All they were going to do was fight. Seto decided it would be best if he gave Mokuba some time to cool off while he went on a little drive. Seto pulled out of the driveway and sped out of the neighborhood, aimlessly driving through the city of Domino with the window down and his thoughts whirling around in his mind.

The trees were beginning to brown despite the fact that it was June. It had been so hot recently that there were hardly any trees that still looked green. There were very few people out and about that evening—on a 90 degree day, it wasn't that hard to believe. Seto rather enjoyed the tranquility of the city. There were rarely any moments in the city where it wasn't bustling with people—whether they were tourists or residents. Despite the heat, Seto kept the window down, preferring to feel the hot air blowing against his hand that as he kept his arm leaning on the reclined window.

Every time Seto tried to rationalize Mokuba's desire to go to college, he kept thinking about that night at the orphanage during their first six months. Mokuba was five years old… just a baby. Seto closed his eyes at a red light and could practically hear the boy's screams that night that Seto snuck in to provide comfort to his brother. Mokuba was so small then; Seto could hold the entirety of Mokuba in his arms. Seto was only 10 at the time, but he still understood just how precious and fragile Mokuba was. No part of him had ever imagined that small, little boy would ever grow up.

"MOVE IT!" A disgruntled driver yelled from behind Seto's car, honking their horn immediately after. Seto saw that the light was green and immediately hit the gas. The city was empty, but the roads certainly weren't. Seto needed to be more careful when getting lost in his own thoughts. He looked at the time and saw it was getting late, anyway. It was time for Seto to start heading back home. He made a left turn at the next side street and waited at another red light.

Seto tapped his fingers on the window, waiting for the light to turn green. He was at a busy four-way stop that almost always had a back-up of traffic no matter which direction a driver was going in. Just as he was about to curse himself for getting stuck at the light, he spotted someone he thought he recognized at the gas station to his left. Seto leaned forward to get a better look… the individual's back was turned to Seto, but there was something about his walk that seemed incredibly familiar.

He was wearing a white shirt—or at least one that used to be white, but a very long time ago. There were so many blotches of black and smug on his t-shirt that it didn't even look like a color anymore matched with his equally as dirty jeans. There was a used rag hanging out of the back of his pants' pocket and his neck was gleaming from a thick layer of sweat underneath the red handkerchief covering his hair. Seto didn't know what it was about this filthy person that he felt like he knew.

Then the guy turned around and Seto immediately retreated into his car and pulled up the window in an attempt to avoid being seen. Seto couldn't believe it… had the man not been wearing a jumpsuit that read "Wheeler" on the left-side of his chest; Seto probably wouldn't have believed it. That's not to say that he wouldn't have been surprised… of all the people to work at a gas station years after graduation, Seto would've guessed it would be Joey Wheeler. Although a sight like that would've normally humored him, in this moment, he just didn't want to make eye contact.

The moment the light turned green, Seto sped away. He couldn't shake how shocking it was to see Joey like that as he pushed the speed limit to get home as quickly as possible. Seto tried to recall the last time he had seen Joey which must've been at some point during their last year of high school. Could that have been six years ago? Even recalling how many years it had been since he had last seen Joey almost made him feel sorry for having seen him in that condition at all. He tried to shake the image of Joey from his mind as he pulled into the Kaiba Manor and turned off the car. Perhaps enough time had passed where Mokuba had cooled off a bit so they could talk.

"Nii-sama, there you are." Seto looked up upon hearing Mokuba call for him as he took his shoes off at the door. Mokuba was halfway down the stairs when Seto came into the house.

"Mokuba, I was just going to come up to talk to you. Listen, I wanted to apologize for—"

"I got accepted into the University of Tokyo and I've decided to start my classes this summer. I'm moving out at the end of the month." Seto could feel the air grow thick with anxiety. Mokuba was desperately searching Seto's face to get an idea of how his older brother would react, but Seto's face was completely neutral. Seto had learned at an early age to bury his emotions, even in situations that caught him off-guard, which meant Mokuba couldn't tell that Seto's lack of an immediate response was due to his heart snapping in half. He thought he had more time… he didn't realize he would be losing Mokuba so fast.

But in true Seto Kaiba form, he gave his brother the answer he was looking for.

"That's… great to hear. How can I help?" Mokuba smiled and ran down the steps, embracing his brother in a big hug. Seto, slowly but surely, wrapped his arms around Mokuba and returned the hug. His heart was still in pieces, but at least it was in the right place. Seto wasn't going to get in the way of Mokuba growing up, but he sure as hell didn't know what he was going to do when Mokuba moved out.

 **-YGO-**

A/N: _Happy National Friendship Day! To celebrate, my friend of ten years, Rena Redhead, and I decided to simultaneously post the first chapters of stories that we've been working on. How we met is actually a cute story—Rena and I became friends because of fanfiction and now, years later, our friendship is what inspired me to come out of retirement and start writing fanfiction again. I'm really excited about what I have planned for you guys and I hope you are too. This story is going to be very different than any story I've ever written, although I'm sure this chapter suggests otherwise. Believe me and stick around… you might like what you see. Thanks for reading and I hope your day is filled with friendship!_


	2. Chapter 2: Self Defense

**Chapter 2: Self Defense**

Seto sighed heavily with frustration as his eyes scanned the room. Seto despised attending banquets—the loud chatter and fake smiles in business suits were enough to make him sick. Business dinners, however, were a must when it came to the game industry, particularly since the president of Industrial Illusions, Maximillion Pegasus, himself invited Seto to come. Seto swirled the wine in his glass, continuing to search the room until his eyes finally pinpointed the person he was looking for. His feet moved quickly through the crowds as he reached his target.

"Mokuba, there you are. You know I hate being stranded at these things," Seto said, placing a firm hand on Mokuba's shoulder. The boy turned around and Seto took a few steps when he saw the boy's face.

"Leon von Schroeder?" The hazel-eyed, dark-haired boy laughed to ease the tension of the situation. Seto hadn't remembered Leon's hair being that dark nor seen him that tall. The boy was either the same age as Mokuba or close to it. The height between the two was almost identical.

"Seto Kaiba, it's been a while. How have you been?" Leon held out his hand to Seto. Seto hesitated upon shaking his hand, considering Leon's older brother was one of Kaiba Corp.'s main competitors, but for the sake of saving time, he decided to shake the hand of the boy he had mistaken as his brother moments earlier.

"I'm fine. I take it your brother is too? He certainly seems to be busy these days, considering all of that money he's spent on marketing recently," Seto said with a huff. "Your brother does realize that we run gaming companies, right? Not political campaigns? All of that bad publicity that your brother puts out there can't possibly be worth the money he spends on it." Leon rolled his eyes. He had no interest in discussing his older brother's constant obsession with releasing bad press about Kaiba Corp. Leon's only hope for the night was to get through it.

"Speaking of brothers, where's yours? Didn't you just mistake me for him?" Leon asked, changing the subject. Seto's head shot up and looked around as he was reminded of what initially brought him to Leon. There were very few teenagers that were in attendance of the banquet that evening, considering it was an invite-only and exclusive to company executives. Mokuba being the vice president of Kaiba Corp. granted him access to the dinner, but Seto wasn't sure how Leon had gotten an invitation.

"Nii-sama, there you are. I'm sorry I'm late." Seto felt a familiar tug on his suit and turned to his side. Relief washed over Seto's face. Mokuba certainly was late—the banquet started an hour ago and Mokuba hadn't texted Seto about his tardiness. Seto decided against scolding Mokuba in front of Leon for the time being.

"Good to see you, Mokuba. You look well," Leon said with a friendly smile, holding out his hand to Mokuba as he had to Seto. Mokuba smiled back.

"Thanks, so do you, Leon," Mokuba said, shaking Leon's hand. "How's school going?"

"It's going well. I just graduated from high school top of my class last month," Leon said with pride.

"Congrats! That's awesome! Have you figured out what college you want to go to yet?" Seto shook his head, overwhelmingly bored with the conversation already. His eyes went back to scanning the room—if he was able to find Pegasus and shake his hand, he'd be able to leave the party. Seto had learned early on in his business career that these sorts of dinners were more about showing up than they were about sticking around. If Seto could show his face to Pegasus, he and Mokuba could leave sooner.

"He's not going to college. He'll be busy learning about the family business." Seto thought he couldn't be any more annoyed until he saw Zigfried von Schroeder, Leon's older brother and president of Schroder Corp., show up. Seto made no attempt to hide his disgust as he saw Zigfried slither his way in from the shadows of the men that surrounded them, his notable purple suit donned with a bright pink rose pinned to his chest. The rose perfectly matched Zigfried's hair which Seto had never figured out whether his hair was dyed that way or if he was born with it looking like that. Seto didn't care enough to find out which was the case.

"Zigfried, it's good to see you still… exist," Seto said, realizing mid-sentence that he had nothing witty or sarcastic to say to Zigfried. Seto turned to his brother and placed a hand on Mokuba's shoulder, "How about we try and find Pegasus and say our hellos? I'm sure he's been searching the crowds for us."

"Mokuba, what do you plan to do now that you're out of high school? Are you going to be fully immersing yourself into the role of vice president of Kaiba Corp. now that you won't have school getting in your way?" Zigfried asked, outright ignoring Seto's attempt to get Mokuba to leave. Mokuba hadn't moved from where he stood.

"Nope, I'm going to be attending the University of Tokyo. I start in a week, actually. I'm taking summer classes to get myself ready for the fall." Seto shrugged. Mokuba wasn't going to leave now that Zigfried had him talking about college. It was all Mokuba wanted to talk about ever since Mokuba decided to start classes that summer. Seto wanted to be supportive, but he couldn't help the trepidation he felt whenever the subject came up in conversation. Seto hadn't expected Mokuba to be so on top of everything—within about two weeks of his acceptance to college, Mokuba had already set himself up with a dorm, a roommate, his books, and a class schedule. Seto shouldn't have been surprised, considering Mokuba was the most mature 18-year old there was; however, Seto was left to try and process the new stage in Mokuba's life in a very short period of time.

"University, you say? How very interesting that the next in line to the Kaiba throne has no interest in it," Zigfried said with a laugh, all eyes on Seto while he did. Seto kept his face void of any emotion, turning his gaze from Zigfried to Mokuba.

"That's not necessarily true. Just because I'm getting an education doesn't mean I have no interest in the business. I'm considering majoring in business, actually, so that I can get a more well-rounded view of business from the classroom before transitioning back to Kaiba Corp." Before Seto could ask Mokuba a second time for them to leave, a waiter came up to Mokuba and offered him a glass of wine.

"For you, Sir?" the waiter held out the wine and Seto waved it away before Mokuba could answer.

"He's underage, but thanks for not checking." Seto shot a glare at the waiter and the man immediately made himself disappear into the crowd. Another laugh erupted from Zigfried and Mokuba and Leon were left standing, both wishing they could be anywhere other than watching their brothers do this nonsensical, competitive dance with one another.

"Do you have a joke you'd like to share with the class?" Seto said, furrowing his brows. Zigfried smirked and took a sip of his own glass of wine.

"You really think that you can keep your kid brother from drinking alcohol when he's about to attend university in a week? He probably wants to go to school just so he can get—what is the word those crazy college kids use? Wasted?" Zigfried chuckled again before taking another sip and saying, "The kid's potential is the only thing that is going to be wasted at that university." Seto took a step forward and Mokuba made the decision to not be held captive to the argument Zigfried and Seto were about to have. Mokuba slapped Seto's wrist, causing the wine glass in his hand to fall to the floor and shatter on the ground. Seto and Zigfried became silent, both with concern but also confusion.

"Mokuba, what the—"

"Would you look at that? We better let someone know about that broken glass before it ruins the carpet. Come on, Seto… we'll catch you guys later, Leon!" Mokuba said, grabbing Seto by the arm and dragging him away. Seto was too confused to refuse or to do anything other than let himself be dragged by his younger brother through the crowds. When they were halfway across the room, Mokuba stopped and let go of Seto's arm.

"Um… would you mind telling me what that was about? That was very irresponsible," Seto said sternly. Mokuba twisted around to look at Seto face-to-face.

"You think I was irresponsible? You were setting yourself up to get into a fight at a business dinner. Don't even act like you didn't want an excuse to punch Zigfried in the face."

"He was insulting you. Are you telling me I have to apologize for defending your decision to go to college?"

"Nii-sama, I'm not a little kid anymore. I don't need you to defend me. Have you even considered the fact that I don't care what Zigfried or his little brother, or anyone for that matter, think about me and my choice to go to college?" Seto was taken aback and stood silently, looking at his brother and processing what he said. Seto hadn't realized how grown up Mokuba looked—standing at about 5"11 in a white suit, black tie, with his broad shoulders and his hair pulled back into a low ponytail. Seto couldn't remember when Mokuba started looking like such a grown-up. It felt like yesterday he was just a small boy in an orphanage and suddenly, there he was—a teenager, standing before Seto.

"I'm… sorry, Mokuba. You're right. I just—"

"Kaiba boy! Mokuba boy! There you both are!" Pegasus came up from behind Seto, wrapping one arm around Seto's shoulder and waving to Mokuba with another. Seto instantly jerked forward from Pegasus' touch, as if a shiver had gone down his spine upon Pegasus' hand making contact with Seto's shoulder. Seto twisted around to stand opposite to Pegasus, beside Mokuba, his guard up as it always seemed to be around Pegasus. "I was beginning to worry that you hadn't come when I couldn't find you."

"Well, here we are and unfortunately, we have to go, so I'll be seeing you at the next one," Seto responded, looking over at Mokuba to see if he was in agreement. Mokuba silently nodded; he felt just as uncomfortable in Pegasus' presence, if not more so than Seto. The brothers were in silent agreement as they made their exit but that was before Pegasus reached out to grab Mokuba's arm and stopped him from leaving. Seto instinctively lunged forward to push Pegasus away, but Mokuba slipped his arm out of Pegasus' grasp and shifted his body to block Seto's path.

"Both of you need to cool it," Mokuba said, annoyed that he had to call both Seto and Pegasus out in front of a bunch of strangers. "Nii-sama, you need to calm down and Pegasus… you shouldn't touch people. It's weird, and also assault, depending on who spins it and how. Just stop doing it." Mokuba looked from Seto and then to Pegasus, glaring at each of them.

"Well, well, well, look at how mature little Mokuba Boy sounds! All grown up, isn't he, Kaiba Boy?" Pegasus replied, standing up straight and regaining his composure. "I meant no harm with the grab, Mokuba Boy. I only wished to grab your attention because one of my waiters found this on the ground. I thought one of you would want it before leaving the party." Pegasus reached into his pocket and held up a small, card-shaped locket that was all too familiar to both Kaiba brothers. Seto cocked his head with surprise as Mokuba reached forward and grabbed it from Pegasus.

"…Thanks for returning it," Mokuba said, putting the necklace on and sliding it under his button-down. Mokuba walked past Seto towards the exit and Seto was more than relieved that they were finally going to leave. Seto took one last passing glance at Pegasus before turning away.

"Mokuba Boy isn't much of a boy now, is he? Perhaps I should call him Mokuba Man." Seto ignored Pegasus' remarks and caught up with Mokuba just as he was exiting the building. The two walked side-by-side in silence all the way until they got to the car. The lights flickered as Seto unlocked the car and the two brothers got in.

"That Pegasus guy is still a total creep, isn't he? It'll be nice to not have to see him for a while," Mokuba said with a sigh, putting on his seatbelt. While Mokuba was away and out of the Kaiba Corp. world, there would be no reason for him and Pegasus to cross paths. Whenever the next event was, Seto was most likely going to have to attend alone. Seto hesitated starting the car… he knew he had to ask the question that was on his mind.

"The locket… you're wearing it again? It's been… years." It had been so long, in fact, that Seto had assumed Mokuba lost it years ago and never bothered finding it. Seto continued to wear his matching card locket, but underneath his clothes for the most part. When Mokuba stopped wearing his, Seto felt embarrassed that he still did… as if he were living in a time or a memory that no longer existed. The lockets used to be a symbol of their bond, but the older they got, Seto wondered if Mokuba saw the lockets an inability to let go of what was no longer felt between the two.

Mokuba gave a short chuckle, pulling out the locket from underneath his shirt and opening it up. The locket revealed the same photo it always had—a young, ten year old Seto with a smile on his face and no place to call home. Mokuba looked up and met with Seto's eyes, giving him a smile.

"I found it while I was packing and started wearing it again. I know any girl that sees a guy wearing a locket with a picture of a small boy would probably choose not to date that person but…" Mokuba placed his hand over his chest, framing the outlines of the locket with his fingers, "I think it's important to remember where you come from before you set forth to where you're supposed to go. I'm a college student now, but I'll always be your brother." Seto closed his eyes, moved with emotion he didn't know how to vocalize. He stretched out his arm and pulled Mokuba into a hug, feeling too overwhelmed to respond.

Mokuba reciprocated the hug, sliding his arms around Seto's waist, burying his head into his older brother's shoulder. Seto closed his eyes, letting the embrace sink in. Seto didn't know how he was going to live his life without his brother, but he was going to try. Seto would try because Mokuba deserved to have a life that Seto didn't and that was all he had ever hoped for his little brother; a chance to live the life that he wanted.

Seto would just have to figure out what life he wanted to live in the meantime.

 **-YGO-**

 **A/N:** _Another chapter?! What witchcraft is this?! This is what happens when Rena Redhead inspires me to start writing again so what do I do? I do ALL OF THE WRITING! Seriously, it has been so much fun putting back on my Yu-Gi-Oh pants and writing fanfiction again. I appreciate you guys reading and following my story! And like I said in the last author's note, so far this story seems very similar to stories I've written before but believe me, I'm about to embark on a journey I've never been on before and I'm excited to bring you guys with me. Thanks for reading and have a great rest of your day/night!_


	3. Chapter 3: Breaking New Ground

**Chapter 3: Breaking New Ground**

It always hit him when it was time to go home from work. Seto could go about his day, about his business, and work like nothing had changed. In his mind, it was business as usual. The deadlines for the new duel disk systems were set to come out at the beginning of the fourth quarter and sales projections were through the roof—everything was as it should be. Seto Kaiba, on a workday at Kaiba Corp., was a very successful and happy CEO. His life was great.

It was when he was gathering his things and loading his briefcase at the end of a work day that the absence of Mokuba hit Seto. Seto knew there would be no one waiting for him at home and that he would be greeted by an empty house. It was easy to pretend it was business as usual at work because Mokuba very rarely spent time at the office.

At the Kaiba Manor, though… that was where Seto felt his heart weigh the heaviest. There was never a second pair of shoes left by the door when he came home. There were no lights that were turned on. Seto never realized how empty Kaiba Manor could be without Mokuba in it. That wasn't to say that Seto didn't have fun at first; without Mokuba there, Seto became more relaxed. Some days he would keep his shoes on, even when he was in the house, maybe even when it had been raining outside! There was one day where he stayed up all night playing with a virtual reality duel simulator. There was another time where he decided to eat nothing but junk food for dinner because he didn't feel like cooking.

The first two weeks, Seto saw Mokuba's absence as parental bliss—he no longer had to be a good example or keep his brother on a set schedule. Seto could do whatever he wanted whenever he wanted! Initially, Seto felt like a little kid that finally got to have the fun he had always dreamed of. And, in the beginning, it was a lot of fun.

It was during the last two weeks, however, that the novelty of his 'fun' wore off. As much as he liked not having to consider the example he was being he noticed that he missed having a routine… and someone to share that routine with. Seto realized that 90 percent of the reason he didn't feel like cooking was because he had no one to share a meal with. For as long as Seto could remember, he was a person that could enjoy a peaceful, quiet evening alone. He soon learned that there was a difference between enjoying being alone and being in an empty house.

These were only some of the many thoughts that were going through Seto's head as he stood in front of his desk, slowly picking up the items left to be packed away in his briefcase. Seto grabbed one of the file folders that he would need to review later. He then grabbed his computer charger. He picked up each item more slowly than before. The longer he was at Kaiba Corp., the longer he could avoid driving home. Seto looked down at his desk and spotted his cell phone. That day marked exactly one month since Mokuba had moved out to college and Seto wanted desperately to call his brother and check in. Seto was proud of himself for refraining from calling Mokuba for a whole month, believing that it was important to let Mokuba enjoy himself, but on that particular evening, it was difficult. Seto stared at his phone for what seemed like hours, only breaking his concentration the moment he saw someone walk into his office.

"Did you forget how to knock?" Seto asked snidely, grabbing the cell phone from his desk and shoving it into his briefcase. Seto looked up and his eyes met with Isono, his executive assistant and right-hand man at Kaiba Corp. Of all the Kaiba Corp. employees, Isono had worked for Seto the longest. Regardless, that didn't excuse Isono from bad manners.

"I deeply apologize, Master Kaiba! I didn't realize you were still at the office. I thought you would already be home by now. It is 7:30pm on a Friday and you usually leave early on Fridays, not late."

It was true that Seto usually left early on Fridays but that was before he had become an empty nester. Fridays were fun because Mokuba thought they were fun. Seto saw no reason to be in a hurry to rush home for the weekend now that Mokuba was gone.

"Some of us have work we have to do, Isono. I'm running a company so I don't have the time to run off to the weekend. I can only assume that's why you're leaving late, right?" Seto put the last of the file folders into his briefcase and snapped it shut. Isono stared at Seto, looking uncomfortable. Seto could tell there was something on his mind, "Go on then, spit it out. What's going on?"

"Master Kaiba, I… lied. I knew you would be in your office at this hour because you have been staying late at work for the past couple of weeks since Master Mokuba left. I came here because I'm worried about you," Seto, although annoyed by both Isono's lie and his concern, allowed Isono to continue speaking, "You've been acting strange at work ever since your brother left. You're all of the sudden so optimistic and so… pleased with everything. At first I thought it was because you liked how the various projects were moving along but then I realized that in the almost ten years that I've worked for you, I have never once heard you say you were happy with anything."

Seto raised an eyebrow upon hearing that, "Wait… so you're telling me that you're worried about me because I've been happy at work?"

Isono shrugged and looked down, searching for the best way to phrase what he wanted to say next. Seto sat down at his desk and beckoned Isono to take a seat, getting the sense that whatever they were going to talk about was going to take longer than a five minute conversation. Deep down, Seto was happy to have an excuse to delay going home.

Isono sat down at the chair in front of Seto's desk and then looked up.

"Sir, I'm saying that ever since Master Mokuba left, you've been putting all of your energy into your work and I don't know why it's made you so… pleasant, I suppose, but I know it must have everything to do with your brother being gone," Isono paused for a moment, as if contemplating whether his own logic made sense to him or not, "Perhaps that's a crazy assumption to make, but I guess you could say the bottom line is that I stayed late today because I care and I thought I could help."

Seto rolled his eyes, leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms, "You're right to say that you're making a crazy assumption. I don't need any help and what help would you have to offer me anyway? If business is going well, you should be enjoying your weekend without having to think about work."

Seto tried to recall the pleasantness that Isono was describing. He supposed it was true that he wasn't yelling at people as much and was seemingly more optimistic than usual. Perhaps it was because business was going well and what was the problem with that? It wasn't that he felt like he had no reason to strive for perfection simply because Mokuba wasn't there to witness it and be proud of him, right? Seto determined that was crazy talk.

"I did have one suggestion to make—why don't you go somewhere tonight and have some fun, just for one night? I know you're not really the type to seek fun, but it is Friday night and most 24-year olds can be found having fun on a Friday night until the early hours on a Saturday morning."

Seto blatantly laughed at the mere suggestion that he would do anything fun, especially on a Friday night. The only kind of fun Seto had was accidental, or any time spent with Mokuba. Seto Kaiba was not one to seek out fun.

"You think I should go somewhere and have fun? And go where, exactly?"

"I don't know… perhaps a bar, Master Kaiba? Most folks your age have fun at bars."

"And what makes you think I have any interest in doing that?" Seto asked, taking an accusatory tone. Isono instantly regretted his suggestion and the fact that he had gone to Seto's office at all to talk to him. Isono's intentions were good and he cared for his boss, but Seto wasn't really the type to take suggestions or advice.

Isono looked up and gave Seto a halfhearted smile, "You're right—I should probably be heading out now, anyway. I'm sorry for disturbing you."

Isono got up and Seto immediately got up with him, "Wait, you're just going to leave?"

Seto's assistant nodded before bowing, "It's like you said, it's Friday night and I should get going. I'll see you on Monday."

Seto watched as Isono walked through the door and left the office. Seto turned to his left, staring out the window of his office that showed a panoramic view of Domino City. The sun was just beginning its descent over the city and the light stretched across the tops of the skyscrapers that overlooked the city. Of all the years Seto had lived in Domino City, not once had he ever been to a bar. Most weekends, most days, most weeks, Seto spent his free time within the walls of his home. Imagining those walls and the silence that would be awaiting him when he returned from work started making Seto anxious. Maybe it was time to get out and have fun… maybe he would go to a bar. He would only be out for a little bit; Seto reassured himself as he grabbed his coat and headed towards the elevator. He was going out for a little fresh air and then he would go home.

 **-YGO-**

"This was a mistake," Seto said to himself out loud, angrily looking down at the beer in his hand that he took one sip of and then put down. The room was so loud and there were so many people at the bar that Seto was constantly getting shoved every time people were walking by. Seto scolded himself for thinking he would get anything resembling fresh air by being at a bar. Why had he taken Isono's suggestion to begin with? A bar would be the last place Seto would describe as 'fun.'

"Did you say you're trying to get laid?" The bartender leaned forward and asked over the blaring music. Seto eyes shot up.

"No, and that would be a weird thing to ask a bartender," Seto said, frankly.

"Oh, well if you were, those ladies over there have been ogling you for the past twenty minutes."

The bartender pointed to two women, scantily dressed with way too much make-up on, that waved to him the moment Seto looked their way. Seto was shook his head and turned back towards the bar—there was no way he was going to get himself mixed up in whatever those girls were thinking of doing. Seto took another swig of his beer, wishing he had remembered that he hated beer before painfully swallowing. He stared down at the glass in his hands, wondering what Mokuba was up to. Seto pulled up his sleeve and saw that the time was 10pm. He contemplated whether it was too late to call Mokuba at this hour and then wondered if he would even pick up.

"Hey, can I get a glass of whatever he's having and a shot of vodka, please?" someone asked as they slinked into the seat next to Seto.

Seto didn't look up from the glass in his hand—if he made eye contact, the person would feel inclined to talk to him and Seto wasn't in a talking mood. He simply wanted to spend some time outside of his house and that was it. Seto pulled up his sleeve again to check the time. He wasn't sure how much time was needed before he could feel good about his 'adventure' outside of his house.

"I like your watch," the man sitting next to Seto stated.

Seto pulled down his sleeve, covering the watch and causing Seto to consider leaving. This guy seemed like he was going to be a chatterbox, but Seto wasn't sure he was ready to leave the bar yet. The more he thought about the emptiness of his house, the more he felt like he should finish at least his beer before taking off. It was in that moment that Seto decided to leave his comfort zone… even if it was through conversing with a stranger who was trying to get drunk.

"Thanks, my brother gave it to me," Seto looked up from his beer for the first time in about ten minutes. He turned to the man to his left and nearly slipped off the bar stool underneath him when he saw who it was. The man turned to him and looked equally as shocked.

"Wheeler?"

"Kaiba?"

"A beer and vodka for the blond," said the bartender, leaving out the drinks in front of Joey.

Seto was relieved to see Joey not covered in dirt like he had seen him a month earlier, but having seen him at all and up close was more than unsettling. Joey may have been showered and shaved, but his hair was still a mess and there was leftover residue of oil that was left on his neck. Seto even noticed dirt encrusted in Joey's fingernails and tried to hide his disgust by averting his eyes and taking another swig of his beer. Joey laughed.

"What's so funny?" Seto asked, wiping the beer foam from his mouth.

"The situation, I suppose. I came to a bar hoping to meet someone and instead I met the one guy I hated the most from high school," Joey picked up the shot of vodka and pressed the glass to his mouth. In a quick 3-second motion, he tossed back his head and the vodka was gone by the time the shot glass hit the counter again. Joey let out a satisfying "Ah" after pushing the empty shot glass away from him and reaching for the beer.

"Bartender, I'm gonna need another shot of vodka, please. And one for my friend right here, too. Thanks."

Seto shot Joey a glare, "What's that about? I thought I just heard you say that you hated me. And I'm not drinking that, by the way."

Seto rolled his eyes, slipping out his phone from his pocket, hoping there was an email or text that could distract him from the situation he was in. There were no messages on his phone which caused Seto to sigh with frustration. He didn't know how to escape the conversation but the need to escape was becoming direr with each passing moment.

"I'm gonna need a lot of vodka to sit through this encounter and I figured you would need a shot just as much as me."

Seto slipped his phone back into his pocket and took out some cash he threw onto the counter. He waved to the bartender and pointed down at the money before turning to Joey. Joey was too preoccupied with his drink to notice Seto getting up to leave.

"Well, this was nice, but I'm gonna go."

Seto turned to get up and leave but got shoved back into his seat. The mere volume of people surrounding the bar and the area near the bar was overwhelming. Seto attempted a second time to slip through the crowd, but the moment someone's sweaty back rubbed against Seto's arm, he realized his disdain for human touch would outweigh his desire to leave. Seto was forced to sit back down on the bar stool—the only place he seemed to be protected from physical contact with anyone else.

Seto turned forward towards the bar and Joey pushed the shot glass full of vodka in front of Seto. Seto closed his eyes, wondering if this was truly happening. Seto couldn't fathom a worse nightmare than being stuck at a bar sitting next to Joey Wheeler, but that seemed to be where his evening was heading. Seto picked back up his nearly-abandoned beer and threw back another chug. It was going to be a long night.

 **-YGO-**

 **A/N:** _I had a couple of different titles in mind for this chapter but the moment "Breaking New Ground" popped into my head; it felt perfect for this chapter and also for where this story is headed. As always, a huge shout-out to Rena Redhead for being my beta reader, muse, and my bestie! She and I have been having oodles of fun developing our stories together for the past couple months. I'm also hopeful to keep up my routine of posting at least once every month. Thank you guys for reading and I hope you enjoyed this chapter!_


	4. Chapter 4: Blackout

**Chapter 4: Blackout**

"I never pegged you as someone that would go to a bar, Kaiba," Joey said, taking a gulp of his beer, his eyes scanning the room. He seemed to be looking for someone, even as he was conversing with Seto. Seto was happy that Joey was distracted because Seto felt uncomfortable looking directly at Joey. The years between when he had last seen Joey and right now had done a number on the joke of a duelist. While he was trapped at the bar with him, however, Seto just wanted to get through the night.

"Believe me, I'm not."

"Then why are you here?" Joey reached over and grabbed the shot of vodka Seto refused to touch and brought it to his mouth.

Again, he made the same 3-second motion of launching the liquid into his mouth before swallowing in one gulp and Seto felt almost impressed. Seto had tasted pure vodka once or twice before and it wasn't a pleasant experience. Joey, however, didn't seem to bat an eye gulping it down.

"I felt like getting out for a bit and seeing what this whole bar thing is about. I should've known I would hate it." Seto twisted his head back to take a look at the crowd behind him. It was still massive with the amount of people crowding the route between the bar and the exit. Seto determined there was still no way for him to get through the crowd without making human contact so he turned back to his half drunk beer instead.

"First time at a bar, huh? And I could've told you that you would've hated the bar scene," Joey pushed the empty shot glasses forward for the bar tender to pick up and looked around the room again. Seto was certain Joey was looking for someone and it wasn't the bartender. A thought popped into Seto's head in that moment.

"You know, I would've never pegged you as a 'going to a bar alone' type. Where's your beloved geek squad?" Seto asked; his voice riddled with condescension.

Joey gave the room another look through before his eyes came back to Seto. He didn't seem bothered by the tone Seto was taking… he was too distracted looking for whomever it was he was looking for. "Various places. Everyone went somewhere after graduation. I was the only one that stuck around in Domino City. Well, other than you."

Seto watched with amazement as Joey took up his glass and finished half a beer in under a minute. It was beginning to click in Seto's mind that Joey seemed to be much more familiar with the bar scene than Seto, and he regretted the conversation he was having. He didn't know why he was even talking to Joey, of all people, to begin with. He supposed it was because listening to Joey was less painful than the roar of the music and drunken screams that filled the atmosphere surrounding him. Seto didn't even attempt to take another look to see if a clear path was made for him to get to the exit. The mere cacophony was enough to convince Seto that conversing with Joey was the best way to bide his time until he could depart.

"And what ever happened to Muto? Does he still duel?" Seto asked, only because he was the slightest bit interested in knowing what Yugi was up to.

Yugi remained the only duelist to have ever defeated Seto and it was a defeat Seto still carried around with him. However, the passage of time and the lack of dueling tournaments in recent years meant that Seto didn't know where Yugi was or if he was still a formidable opponent. If Seto was going to be stuck at a bar, he might as well find out what his adversary was up to.

"He went to New York. He says it was to go to school, but I know he just wanted to follow Tea after she moved out there for dance school in hopes that they'll get together. I love my pal, Yug, but he really doesn't have confidence when it comes to the ladies. Who knows if he'll ever get around to asking Tea out, but with his name and reputation, he could really go to any college he wants to. He got a bunch of scholarships, too… I guess because he's smart and did well in school," Joey tapped the counter and made eye contact with the bartender.

Within a couple minutes, a new glass was filled and was in Joey's hands. Joey turned himself towards Seto and looked directly at him for the first time. Joey swiped open the phone in his hand and shoved the phone in Seto's face, revealing a picture of a girl with red hair in a graduation cap and gown.

"Speaking of smart and doing well in school; look at my sister! This was taken a couple years ago at Serenity's high school graduation, but in a year, she'll be graduating from the University of Tokyo and I'm so proud," Joey started swiping his phone so that Seto could see various photos of Serenity, but Seto only half paid attention.

He pushed Joey's hand down, "Did you say that Serenity is attending the University of Tokyo? That's where Mokuba is going. He just started summer classes a month ago." Joey's eyes grew wide with some mixture of drunkenness and excitement. Seto had not expected his comment to inspire such a reaction from Joey.

"No way! Are you serious?! The little guy is off at college now? Wow, the time really has flown by. I can't believe it's been that many years already!" Joey looked down at his phone, swiping through the photos of his sister and smiling.

Seto didn't know if it was the alcohol or Joey's own emotions that changed his smile to a frown as he swiped through the photos. Some of the photos weren't of his sister anymore, they depicted different people, but Seto couldn't tell who they were.

"It's crazy, isn't it? How much things change as time flies by? It feels like yesterday my sister was glued to my side, always looking up to me and wanting to hang out with me. Now she's all grown up and a total heartthrob and I don't even want to mention the boys I had to beat up to keep their paws off of her, but…" Joey's voice trailed off and he clicked off his phone and drank some more of his beer. Seto had lost count how many beers Joey had at this point and he wondered how many more he would have before the end of the night.

"She just means the world to me, you know? I'm so happy that she's found her way, but I can't help that I miss the way she used to look up to me. I used to protect her, you know? Now I feel like she doesn't need me, much less anyone else now that everyone is gone," Joey looked up at Seto for comfort, but Seto looked uncomfortable.

Seto didn't know what to say and wasn't sure that if he did know what to say, he would say it to Joey. His situation sounded rough but Seto had a hard time being sympathetic towards people he found unbearable. Seto also suspected that alcohol was the biggest factor in Joey's change in mood. Joey's eyes looked glazed over and he looked like he was unable to make direct eye contact with Seto.

"Maybe you should slow down on the beers a bit, Wheeler. You seem like you're sort of in and out right now," Seto advised.

It was starting to get very late and Seto was tired of hearing Joey blabber on and on about his life. It was then that he decided he was going to make a run for the exit. He got up from his seat and turned to leave, but the moment he twisted around, his hands knocked the beer glass out of a man's hand and onto the floor.

"Hey man, don't you watch where you're going?!" The big, burly man raised his fist but his face was met with a different fist. His body went crashing to the floor and people suddenly stopped dancing and chattering to look at the scene that was unfolding. Joey hovered over the man, his hands still balled into fists.

"Why don't you watch where you're going? Can't you see that my friend is trying to walk over here?" Seto grimaced at the notion of Joey calling him a 'friend,' but also started to slink away when he saw the burly man rise to his feet.

A fight was about to go down and lucky for Seto, a path had cleared because of it. Seto didn't wait around to see what would happen—he got out of there as soon as he could just as security ran in. Seto promised himself he would never go to a bar again and he hoped to never run into Joey Wheeler again. That night was enough. Seto didn't look back before sneaking out of the bar, leaving Joey to fend for himself.

Joey, on the other hand, didn't look the slightest bit distressed to have the big, burly man standing opposite to him. Joey's lack of distress continued on, even after a fist went straight into his face and knocked him to the ground. The girl the man was with grabbed him by the arm, urging him to stop. That was at least what it sounded like. For Joey, the room was spinning, but the alcohol had made him somewhat numb to the pain in his face. Joey looked back up, ready to fight back, but the moment he tried to get up, he collapsed forward. The crowd that surrounded him started clearing out when security came.

"Alright buddy, you're done for the night. Go home," the security guard said, dragging a disoriented Joey onto his feet and towards the exit of the bar.

Joey turned his head to say something snide, but he couldn't remember what he wanted to say to begin with. He let the security guard continue to drag him towards the exit until Joey saw a head of curly, blonde hair in the distance. He leaped forward, towards the girl he was sure he knew, grabbing her arm.

"Mai, you came. I didn't think you would but I'm so happy you did," Joey gushed, tripping over his words with happiness.

The girl turned around and Joey took a step back, realizing he had grabbed a total stranger by the arm. The girl looked at him with pure horror and Joey immediately let go. The security guard grabbed him by the arm and jerked him away.

"Listen kid; quit it with the funny business. You need to get out of here."

Joey let himself be dragged all the way to the exit and then thrown out, in a very literal sense. Joey fell to the ground and his vision became as black as the night sky overhead.

 **-YGO-**

It felt like someone had been beating Joey's head with a hammer for an hour when he opened his eyes the next morning… or what he thought was morning. His blood-shot eyes looked over at the old digital clock beside his bed that read 2:40pm. Joey groaned as he sat up—both relieved and impressed that he had managed to get to and fall asleep in his own bed last night. He couldn't even remember getting home.

Joey shifted his feet from the bed to the floor and looked down. All of his limbs seemed to be in the right place so that was a good sign. He reached for his pants that had been thrown to the floor and sifted through his pockets, searching for his phone. Looking through his phone was possibly the most frightening part of a night that ended with a black out. Joey never knew what he was going to see when he looked through his call and text history.

He checked the text messages first and to his relief, he had only sent a few random, incoherent texts to both Yugi and Serenity last night. Joey chuckled to himself when he saw one text to Yugi that read "You're the nest" when he knew he meant to write "You're the best." Joey continued to chuckle to himself when he opened up his call history, thinking he would find that he tried to contact only Serenity and Yugi. His chuckling came to a halt when he saw that he had actually called Mai 22 times.

"How could I be so stupid?!" Joey yelled to himself, throwing his phone onto the bed and stomping into the kitchen.

His headache was getting worse so he went for the cabinet above the sink and grabbed a container of Advil. Joey begrudgingly popped two of the pills into his mouth and filled a glass with water before taking a huge gulp. The pills went down with ease but his head was beginning to pulse with pain. The hangover was the worst part about a night of drinking, aside from the embarrassing phone calls and texts.

Joey collapsed onto his couch, staring up at the ceiling and waiting for the pain to go away. His eyes traced the cracks on the ceiling while he tried to piece together what had happened the night before. He remembered sitting at the bar, having vodka, talking to some guy and then another guy punched him. Joey winced from the realization of whom he was talking to the night before. He buried his face into his hands.

"It could've been any one in the world but it had to be Kaiba I got wasted in front of?!" Joey lamented to himself.

Seto Kaiba was the single most annoying and judgmental person Joey knew and after six years of not having seen each other, why did they have to run into each other at a bar of all places? The more Joey thought about it, the more he realized he couldn't stay in his apartment and stew. He had to go out and get some fresh air. Joey threw on some clothes and shoes and went out the door without a second thought.

Getting some fresh air and being outside would do him some good. Joey was hopeful that it would even cure him of his hangover or his embarrassment from the night before. Joey was willing to try anything to forget running into Seto at the bar.

 **-YGO-**

 **A/N:** _Oh man… it is so cold outside right now. Hope you guys are feeling warmer than I am right now and I hope you enjoyed the chapter! I'm not sure how I feel about the title of the chapter this time around but it seemed appropriate so I went for it. I'm heading into a very busy month so I wanted to give you guys a new chapter before I lose track of time. I appreciate the reviews and I hope you have an awesome Saturday!_


	5. Chapter 5: Car Trouble

**Chapter 5: Car Trouble**

"…Sorry again for all of the crazy text messages last night, Sis. I, uh, was doing a bit of drinking last night," Joey rubbed the back of his neck with one hand as he walked, holding the cell phone to his head with the other hand.

He nervously awaited the scolding he would receive from his sister. Serenity may have been younger than Joey but that didn't stop Serenity from putting Joey in his place. He couldn't blame her for it—there were times where her scolding was warranted.

"Yeah, I had a hunch you were probably drunk. Do you not have work today?"

"Nah, I don't actually. The old man decided to give me a Saturday off for once, can you believe it? I'm strolling around downtown Domino to pick up groceries with all people that work normal work hours. It's kinda nice," Joey looked around and smiled. He felt comfortable in a crowd full of people, perhaps because he spent so much time alone. Working at a gas station was 30% working with people and 70% working with cars. Joey living alone thrown on top of that meant his time spent with other human beings was limited. Not to mention that the energy of the city was different during the day on a Saturday than it was during the week, when most people were in their offices working. It was rare for Joey to have a weekend day off.

"That's good. I wish you hadn't decided to get drunk though…" Joey sensed worry in Serenity's voice. He quickly tried to remedy those feelings.

"Hey, it's all good. I didn't get too crazy last night," Joey stopped walking when he went over the events of last night in his head. Although he had blacked out during the second part of the night, the first part of the night was starting to come back to him.

Joey groaned to himself, "Oh man… except for the fact that I totally ran into Kaiba last night."

"Wait, what?! You ran into Seto Kaiba while you were drunk? Where? How? I didn't even know he was still living in Domino City!"

Joey leaned against a street light on the edge of the sidewalk as to not get in the way of pedestrians as they walked by. He leaned his head back against the metal, cursing himself for having gotten drunk in front of Seto. The events of last night were coming back to him the more he thought about his interaction with the young CEO.

"It was weird. I ran into him at a bar. I forget why he was there but he ended up sitting next to me and we talked for a long time, I think," Joey scratched his head as he tried to remember what they discussed. What did they talk about for so long? Joey smiled when he recalled part of the conversation, "Oh yeah, he told me his brother is a freshman at the University of Tokyo! He just started taking classes there this summer. You should try to find the little guy and let him know I say hi if you see him… I may hate Kaiba, but his brother is a good kid."

"Mokuba goes here too? That's so cool! Yeah, I'll definitely say hi to him if I see him. Although I imagine he's not much of a kid anymore if he's attending college." Joey didn't think about that but it was true—Mokuba was probably not the little guy that he was six years ago or however long it had been since he had seen Mokuba. Mokuba was probably all grown up now; perhaps he was even as tall as Seto. Joey stood up straight all of the sudden.

"On second thought, maybe don't try and find Mokuba or say hi to him. If Mokuba is anything like his brother, he probably grew up to be handsome and the last thing I want is for you to fall for a Kaiba brother with social skills."

Serenity laughed on the other end of the phone, "Oh Joey, you won't need to worry about that. I'm not about to fall in love with a freshman. That's gross."

Joey was relieved. In the back of his mind, he was always worried about Serenity and dating, though he tried his best not to verbalize it. The worry of Serenity potentially falling in love with a Kaiba, however, would've caused Joey nightmares for months. He was glad to be reassured that Serenity would never fall for the younger Kaiba brother.

"Yes, I'm glad to hear that. Dating Mokuba would be gross. In fact, how about we dub dating in general gross and call it a day?" Although Joey couldn't see Serenity's face, he could imagine perfectly the way she was rolling her eyes at such a comment. Joey liked to dream of a world in which he could forbid his sister from dating but he knew he couldn't. Instead, he would continue to poke fun in hopes that his suggestion would one day stick.

Joey looked up from his feet and on at the people passing by. He cracked a smile when he saw a teen and his younger brother walk by, the younger one holding Duel Monster cards in one hand, and his Dark Magician-themed backpack in the other. The two boys had to be 15 and 10, as far as Joey could tell. It may have even been the first time they were learning about Duel Monsters by the way their faces lit up staring at the cards. It warmed Joey's heart to see young, budding duelists.

"You know, speaking of dating… you didn't happen to text or call Mai last night, did you? You know, during your bender?" Serenity asked, fear in her voice, "I know things have been rough since you guys broke up. I just hope you're giving her the space she needs."

Joey's eyes shifted from the boys to a man, dressed in all black, maneuvering through the crowd of people on the street. Joey's eyes followed him all the way up until he saw the man snatch the backpack from the boy's hands and take off. Joey sprung forward.

"I gotta call you back," Joey hung up and started running, taking to the edge of the sidewalk as he ran to keep from having to shove people in his path.

His eyes never left the man dressed in black, the backpack dangling in his hand. At one point the thief looked back and his eyes made contact with Joey's. Joey made sure to memorize the features of his face and ran even faster—the space between him and the thief was becoming smaller. Joey reached out to snatch the thief by the back of his shirt when Joey's target made a sudden left turn into a busy intersection.

Joey halted at the crosswalk, watching as cars zoomed by. The light was green for the opposing traffic and, as much as Joey wanted to, his feet wouldn't budge. He didn't want to get hit by a car, but it pained him to watch as the thief got away. Just as the man was about to reach the other end of the intersection to escape…

 _WAM!_

 **-YGO-**

Of all the places Seto hated, the grocery store was possibly the place Seto despised the most. Pushing his cart through crowds of people, having to say 'excuse me' or 'thank you' in the instances where human interaction was required, and seeing people in general were some of the few aspects that Seto hated about grocery shopping. Saturday was also the worst day to go, which Seto supposed was his own fault for waiting until the last minute. Although the world had become delightfully automated, considering that most day-to-day necessities could be found and bought online, Seto forced himself to go to one public place a week per Mokuba's orders.

"Nii-sama, you need social interaction when I'm gone. You can't just be cooped up in the manor until I come back to visit. You have to promise me that you'll go to at least one public place a week while I'm away," Seto remembered Mokuba saying on the drive up to the University of Tokyo.

"What do you mean I need social interaction? I get social interaction all the time at the office," was Seto's reply.

"You know that's not the same as social interaction. Are you going to promise me you'll do it? I mean it when I say once a week and going on duelist forums to tell people why their dueling strategies are utter crap isn't going to cut it. I need you to see people in real life and interact with them, even if it's just at the grocery store or gas station." Seto shook his head just thinking back on the conversation.

Mokuba meant well, of course, but Seto wasn't sure why he agreed to such a ridiculous request. Nevertheless, there he was, paying for his groceries and avoiding eye contact as he said 'thank you' while taking his bags. He promised himself that next time he would go to a library instead of a grocery store for his 'homework' the following week.

Seto pulled out his phone as he walked out of the store, considering calling Mokuba to tell him that he was keeping up with his promise. All that he wanted was an excuse to call Mokuba, but he was faced with the same dilemma as he was last night—he wanted to be a good big brother and give Mokuba his space. Remembering last night caused Seto to groan in frustration when he thought about running into Joey at the bar.

Seto put his phone back into his pocket and continued towards his car. He didn't want to call Mokuba or think about talking to Joey last night. He unlocked his convertible Maserati that was parallel parked on the main road and threw in the three bags before closing the door. When he looked up from his car, he saw two boys across the intersection, laughing and looking at Duel Monster cards and a Dark Magician backpack in their hands. Seto unconsciously smiled, thinking only of Mokuba when he saw them, especially the younger boy. Seto could tell they were brothers by the way the older boy was talking to the younger one.

Seto's smile disappeared when he saw a man dressed in black snatch the backpack from behind and take off. Seto didn't know how he could stop this thief, considering there was a busy intersection and lanes of traffic going both ways between them. Seto's eyes followed the thief and saw him look back which caused Seto to follow the thief's gaze—it was Joey that was tailing him. Seto's initial reaction was that of annoyance, wondering how and when Domino City became so small. But he didn't have time to read too much into it; the thief made a sharp turn onto the street and was dodging oncoming traffic.

Seto considered his options as the thief was approaching the other end of the intersection, closer to where Seto was parked. Seto made a split decision as the thief approached the other end of the intersection by jumping into his car, turning it on, and speeding right into the man before he could reach the sidewalk.

 _WAM!_

Seto slammed on the breaks just as the car made impact, causing the man to flip onto the windshield, roll over the front window, and land onto the front seat of the convertible. The thief was in complete shock and his body appeared frozen. His eyes didn't blink when Seto grabbed the backpack from his hands and sighed when looking at the cracked windshield.

"I hope you have a good lawyer because replacing that windshield is probably going to cost more than the funds in your checking account," Seto huffed.

The man was silent, still processing the impact Seto's car had on his body. Seto turned around just as cars were stopped on the street, staring at the scene. Some pedestrians had even taken out their phones and were filming Seto as he watched Joey ran up to him.

"Kaiba, what on earth are you—" Seto tossed Joey the backpack before Joey could ask his question.

"Here you go. Can you make sure those boys get that back? And someone should probably call the authorities about this."

Joey opened his mouth to answer but sirens were heard. Two cop cars and an ambulance pulled up and parked. A sudden urge to flee the scene came over Joey as the officers approached but then realized he wasn't actually in trouble. He looked down at the backpack in his hands, feeling strangely at a loss of what he was supposed to do next.

"Oh good, someone already called them," Seto remarked.

The police officers walked over and stood on opposite sides of Seto's car, looking down at the thief that remained motionless. Seto turned to one of the officers and said, "He looks bad but he's just in shock. I think he's fine, for the most part."

Joey was dumbfounded watching all of this unfold as the police pulled the man out of Seto's car and cuffed him. Seto raised his hands as another officer approached him with handcuffs. Joey felt concern swell in his chest as they twisted Seto around and link his arms together.

"Wait, Kaiba was only trying to stop the guy from stealing a kid's backpack! He's not the bad guy," Joey stated, stepped forward to stop the officer from cuffing Seto. Seto motioned for Joey to step back while the police approached.

"Calm down, Wheeler. They have every right to arrest me. I assaulted a guy with my car which is a crime that I should be arrested for." Seto held out his hands and willingly let the cops cuff his wrists.

Joey was confused with the entire scene that was unfolding in front of him. Did Seto really just hit a guy with his car so a kid could get his backpack back? Was Seto really about to be driven away in the back of a cop car? Could it be that Joey actually cared what happened to Seto? There were too many questions Joey had to process all at once.

Seto snapped his fingers and got Joey's attention, "The kids are here. Give them their backpack and you should probably go splash some water on your face when you get home. You still look like you're hung over."

The officer behind Seto began to recite his rights as he moved him towards the back of the cop car and let him get in. Joey looked back down at the bag in his hands and turned around at the two kids that were staring at him, wide-eyed. Joey handed the backpack over to the boys.

"Thank you so much for getting our backpack for us! I'm sorry your friend got arrested," the older boy said.

"He's not my friend," Joey responded. The two brothers looked at each other with confusion and then back at Joey.

"Oh… well, I guess thanks for getting our backpack from that total stranger that broke his car. Bye!" the younger boy replied and then walked away with his older brother.

Joey felt a pang of guilt from saying that he wasn't friends with Seto but the response came out so naturally and did have a ring of truth to it. Joey also couldn't figure out whether it was really a pang of guilt he was feeling or another migraine coming on, inspired by the killer hang over that had subsided during the chase. Whatever it was, Joey had to admit that he was impressed with Seto's actions. It was probably the nicest thing Joey had ever seen Seto do for anyone other than his brother.

He watched as a tow truck approached to pick up Seto's car. The windshield was completely cracked, a large indentation could be seen where the thief's body had made impact with the windshield. Seto's Maserati was in perfect condition aside from the windshield, it was almost tragic to see it with a windshield like that. A police officer came up to Joey as he watched the tow truck driver hook the Maserati up to his truck.

"We have a couple questions for you regarding the crime that just took place. Would you be willing to give us your witness testimony?"

Joey nodded before recounting to the event to the officer. His eyes were still distracted, watching the car get hauled away by the tow truck. Joey couldn't believe he saw Seto Kaiba willingly slam his car into another person. It was remarkable, and a little cool, though Joey would never admit it.

 **-YGO-**

 **A/N:** _Wow… so I was not joking when I said I was heading into a busy month last month. It was so busy, in fact, that I almost didn't believe that a month had already gone by and that it was time to update again this weekend! Where does the time go?! And will I need to start putting reminders in my calendar for these chapters? Tune in next time to find out… But in any case, thank you to everyone that has read and reviewed or just read or even marked this story as a favorite. You're all too kind! The biggest shout out goes to Rena Redhead for being the best beta reader ever. This month is also her birthday month and she just recently updated her story, "Defying Destiny." Go show her some love because she deserves it! Until next time, stay classy and have a great day!_


	6. Chapter 6: Doing Time

**Chapter 6: Doing Time**

"Nii-sama, I'm gone for a month and you get yourself thrown in jail?! Are you crazy?!"

Seto chuckled because he couldn't resist. It was pretty crazy that he was wearing an inmate jumpsuit, speaking to Mokuba from a landline at the Domino City Detention Center while a police officer monitored his call standing half a foot away. Seto looked over at the gentlemen standing crossed-armed, watching Seto on the phone. There was no change in his facial expression when their eyes met.

"Oh, it's fine. I only did it so I could stop a robbery and I'm sure Isono will have no problem posting bail for me. I'm a first-time offender—they'll be easy on me," Seto used the word 'robbery' but knew it was an exaggerated term considering he only stopped a guy from stealing a kid's backpack.

Regardless, Seto was feeling a little heroic, though he wanted to be subtle about it. He tugged at the sleeves of the jumpsuit and tried adjusting the cuffs on his wrists. The jumpsuit was really great at containing body heat which made wearing it incredibly uncomfortable.

"You're not trying to be some sort of vigilante for Domino City, are you? I know you have a lot of free time with me being gone now, but I have a feeling you wouldn't make a very good Batman. And you do realize hitting a guy with your car is something an insane person would do, right?" Seto switched the receiver to his other ear and huddled towards the wall, lowering his voice so the police officer couldn't hear him as well.

"I know, but I couldn't catch him on foot. I'm not in any shape to be chasing someone down so that's why I had to use my car."

Mokuba laughed, "You got that right. I'm watching the video now… that guy was running pretty fast! You would've never caught him."

Mokuba moved his laptop closer to him and played the video that was included in the online article he was reading on the incident. Someone had taken cell phone footage after Seto hit the thief with his car and shared it with a news outlet. Mokuba watched as Seto got out of the car and took the backpack from the thief's hands. Mokuba leaned forward when he saw Joey come into frame.

"Wait, is that Joey? Oh man, that totally is! Joey was there?!" Mokuba was even more amazed as the video showed Seto and Joey conversing with one another. There wasn't a frown to be found on Seto's face. The video didn't include audio but whatever interaction they had, it didn't appear to be unpleasant, even as Seto was getting arrested, "Did you and Joey work together on this?"

"Oh, it looks like they're kicking me off the phone now. I love you and stay out of trouble," Seto quickly hung up the phone.

Seto wasn't sure why he felt the need to hide the interaction Joey and Seto had from Mokuba. It wasn't like they were suddenly best friends or anything. Joey just happened to be there when Seto stopped a guy from stealing a kid's backpack. The young CEO wanted to forget all of the Joey Wheeler he had to stomach for the last 48 hours and go back to his normal life. Seto let the police officer guide him back to his cell where he would wait until Isono bailed him out.

It didn't take very long, in fact, before Seto's cell was opened once again by the police officer, only this time he was accompanied by Isono. Seto jumped to his feet with an uncharacteristic enthusiasm. There were very few times Isono had seen Seto so clearly overjoyed.

"You're good to go. Your bail has been posted," the officer stated. Isono bowed upon greeting his boss before they both walked out side-by-side. Seto already began to unbutton the top half of the jumpsuit, revealing a plain white shirt underneath. He was just happy to let the contained heat escape at last.

"What took you so long?" Seto asked as they walked through the long hallway into the lobby, "I've been sweating bullets in this ugly, orange thing for the last hour."

"I'm terribly sorry, Master Kaiba. There was a lot of paperwork I had to fill out before they would let you be released. I have copies of all the paperwork right here for you to view later. I also have your personal belongings that they confiscated," Isono said and handed Seto two plastic bags—one that contained the clothes he was wearing and another that contained his locket necklace, wallet, keys, and cell phone.

Seeing the car keys reminded him that there was still the issue of his car to deal with. Seto grabbed the plastic bag that contained his clothes first and searched the hallway for the nearest bathroom. Fortunately there was one close-by.

"How bad is the car? Do we know where it's been towed to?"

"Yes sir. I have that information here as well. I'm not sure how bad the damage is."

Seto walked over to the bathroom, "Can you hold the rest of my things while I change? I'll be right back." Isono nodded while Seto slipped into the bathroom.

He ripped off the jumpsuit, feeling as though he was freeing himself from an oven. He took out the clothes from the bag and tried to ignore the fact that his shirt and pants were covered in wrinkles. Seto buttoned up his shirt first before putting on his pants and securing his belt onto his waist. He patted down his pants which reminded him that he was missing something. Seto burst through the bathroom door.

"Where are my cards?" Seto rushed over to Isono, grabbing the plastic bag out of his hand and emptying the contents of the bag. His locket, phone, wallet, and keys were there but nothing else. "Isono, my deck isn't here. We can't leave until we talk to someone about this." Isono didn't have a chance to respond before Seto stormed away, headed towards the front desk in the lobby. Once he was there, Seto approached the woman dressed in plain, gray attire in her early 30's sitting behind a glass screen.

"Hi there, I was recently an inmate here at this facility and my bail just got posted…" the woman looked disengaged from the conversation completely. Seto ignored her boredom and continued, "I got my personal belongings back but I appear to be missing something that was on my person at the time I was arrested. I had a deck in my pants pocket that doesn't appear to be with the rest of my things."

"Did you say you had a 'deck' in your pocket? Do you mean a deck of cards?" the woman asked, her monotone voice matched her look of disinterest.

Seto tried to maintain his cool. He had just gotten out of jail and didn't want to get thrown back in because the receptionist didn't know what a deck of cards was. His response was, "Yes, a deck of cards. To be more specific, it was a deck of Duel Monsters cards. I had a deck in a box in my pocket at the time of my arrest. It wasn't in the bag with the rest of my personal items."

The woman reached under her desk and Seto became hopeful, for his sake and for her own, that what she was about to pull out was his cards. Instead, she placed a piece of paper in front of him. Seto's eyes stared at the paper before looking back at the woman who continued to be unfaltering in her disinterest.

"You can fill out a lost/stolen report and we'll get back to you about it in three weeks." Isono nervously looked from the woman up to Seto. His boss was going to start fuming and he worried what would happen to the bystanders in the lobby if his rage continued to build. Isono started trying to think of methods to contain Seto's anger level.

Seto slammed his fist down and yelled, "Three weeks?! Do you know who I am?!"

Isono stepped forward, after determining that reasoning with Seto was a good method to start with, and said, "Master Kaiba, I'm sure there's an explanation for this…"

The defiant woman frowned and was not moved by Seto's display of aggression. Instead, she replied with, "Sir, you're going to need to calm down. We'll find your trading cards eventually but you do need to fill out this form."

Seto slammed his fist onto the counter a second time, causing everyone sitting in the lobby to jump from being startled. There was a security guard standing near the door whose attention was also caught by the commotion. He approached Seto at the counter and Isono immediately noticed his approached.

"Master Kaiba, you're going to get yourself thrown back in jail…" Isono whispered, wishing there was a way to get Seto to calm down. He was worried that even the threat of being thrown back in jail wasn't enough to get his boss to stop causing a scene.

"Let me just say this, Hiroko," Seto said, finally addressing the woman by name after reading the name plate on her desk. Seto leaned forward and gave her a brief smile. Isono was at least relieved that his tone was slightly less hostile than it was a moment ago now that he was trying to take the charming approach. "I'm Seto Kaiba and I'm a worldwide champion of Duel Monsters. Now, I can understand if you don't follow Duel Monsters or know much about it, but a duelist without his cards is not much of a duelist at all. Wouldn't you agree?"

Hiroko looked up from her desk, making full eye contact with Seto for the first time and said, "A duel champion, huh? You mean like Duke Devlin? And I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that a guy named Yugi Muto was declared King of Games a couple years ago…"

Seto's pupils dilated and Isono lunged forward to grab Seto, terrified that he was about to destroy everything that was within a foot of his reach. As if the comparison to Duke wasn't enough, the reminder that Yugi had thwarted Seto's attempts to regain his title as King of Games definitely meant someone was going to be harmed. Before Seto could react, someone called his name.

"Is there a Seto Kaiba still in the building? We have something of his!" Another woman dressed in a pants suit ran into the lobby and was holding Seto's deck box. Isono was so relieved he thought he might even feint. "This fell out of the bag with the rest of your personal belongings. We're terribly sorry about that."

"Yes, those are mine, thank you for returning them." Seto walked up and grabbed them, sticking them into his pocket where they belonged. The anger he was about to unleashed disappeared completely and everyone present seemed equally as relieved as Isono was. Seto nodded towards Isono, "Alright, let's go. We're done here."

Isono quickly followed behind as Seto exited the lobby. When they were outside, Isono pointed to the path that would lead them to the parking lot. Seto's eyes narrowed as he spotted a figure standing at the end of the path near the entrance of the parking lot.

"Wheeler," Seto said as he approached Joey, leaning against the chain-linked fence that ran parallel to the path.

Joey's hands were stuffed into his pockets and again, he was dressed very casually in a plain white t-shirt and some dirty, washed out jeans. Seto noticed that the t-shirt didn't have stains on it this time which was nice. Joey's face was void of emotion which made it difficult for Seto to anticipate what was going on.

"Kaiba, it's good to see you got out."

Seto didn't feel like engaging in small talk with Joey. He wanted to be halfway across town by now, heading back to his home office where he could slip back into his normal life. Seto decided to speed up the conversation so they would get right to the point.

"What do you want, Wheeler? Why are you here?"

Joey sighed and took his hands out of his pockets.

"I just came by to say that…" Joey took a deep breath; looking as if he were pained by the words he was about to say next, "I'm sorry for what I said about you the night before, you know, at the bar. And I guess I'm sorry for perceiving you as a jerk back in high school. I thought you were the kinda rich boy that did whatever he wanted because he could get away with it and that you didn't care about anyone other than yourself. Seeing you yesterday changed my perception."

Seto was genuinely surprised by what Joey was saying but his eyes kept looking towards the parking lot, longing for their conversation to be over so he could go home.

"Well, I'm still rich but I suppose it's good to know you don't think I'm heartless. Anyway, I need to be heading home so I'll see you around." Seto walked past Joey with Isono following behind but Joey called out to him before he got too far.

"Wait, Kaiba! Before you go…" Joey caught up with Seto, forcing Seto's attention back to him, "Let me help you out with repairing your car's windshield."

"And why would I let you do that?"

"Because it's the least I can do. You did just get thrown in the slammer for doing a good deed and I promise I can get you a good deal," Joey stated with a smirk. Seto was not amused.

"You have yet to give me a good reason." Seto also wanted to add, "And now you're wasting my time, too" but he didn't. He didn't want to risk the conversation carrying on for much longer by starting a fight with Joey.

"Look man, don't be an ass. Just let me fix your windshield," Joey demanded, getting frustrated.

Seto rolled his eyes; agreeing to Joey's request was apparently going to be the fastest way of getting him to go away. Seto sighed before he replied, "Fine, give me your business card and I'll give you a call when I'm ready to bring it in."

Joey put his hands back into his pockets and looked down.

"Actually, Kaiba… I don't have any business cards," Joey, although somewhat embarrassed, continued, "I can tell you where I work and give you my manager's card, though!" Seto reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet. He slipped out a business card that he handed to Joey.

"Here, you can have my business card. Call me when you're ready to fix my car and I'll bring it over. And I better not have to wait all day to get it done," Seto said with a hint of aggravation. Seto hated a number of activities, but waiting was definitely one of the top five that he hated the most.

"I promise not to make you wait," Joey said with a smile, holding out his hand for Seto to shake. Seto looked down at Joey's hand, remembering the dirt and smudge he had seen on his fingers the night at the bar. Seto settled for putting his hand on Joey's shoulder instead.

"Yep, see you around." Seto then turned away with Isono by his side and the two headed out. Seto had no intention of waiting for Joey to call him to fix his car. He would probably just take the Maserati to the dealership where he bought it and have it fixed by them. Still… Seto thought it was nice of Joey to offer. Perhaps Joey wasn't a complete idiot after all.

 **-YGO-**

 **A/N:** _Happy 2018 everyone! I know it's a little late in the month to say happy New Year but given that this is my first update since the New Year began, I felt it necessary to wish everyone a happy new year. I hope you all had a fantastic 2017 year and have a great start to the 2018 year. My 2017 was amazing for so many reasons but getting back into writing and receiving so much positive feedback has really made my heart sore. Although 2018 is looking to be just as hectic and busy, if not even more so than 2017 with everything that will be happening this year, I'm excited to experience the new possibilities and keeping posting chapters to this story. I will maintain the once a month update, as long as time allows for it. I once again want to give a shout out to the darling, Rena Redhead, whom is writing a fabulous story called "Defying Destiny" that everyone should check out if you haven't already. Until next time, thanks for reading!_


	7. Chapter 7: Estimated Time of Arrival

**Chapter 7: Estimated Time of Arrival**

"I've never seen a GranTurismo convertible up close! I feel like I've only ever seen them in movies. I've got to say that probably one of my favorite things that they've done with the Maserati is…" Joey continued to prattle on about the various features and capabilities of Seto's car.

Seto closed his eyes and took a deep breath, trying to contain his burning desire to tell Joey to shut up about the car. Seto wasn't surprised to hear that Joey wasn't used to seeing fancy cars where he worked since his shop wasn't much to look at but Seto didn't exactly enjoy listening to Joey squeal over his car like a fan boy.

The young CEO had considered not taking his car to Joey at all and conveniently ignoring the voicemail Joey left when he called Seto and said it was a good time to bring the car in after two weeks had passed since their last exchange. Seto secretly hoped that Joey would lose his business card, but had no such luck when he heard the voicemail left on his desk phone. He battled back and forth about what sort of lie to tell Joey about the car until he decided to stop being conflicted about it and let it be fixed. After that, Seto told himself, he would never see Joey again.

"Look, I'm gonna need you to just tell me if you can replace the windshield and how long it's going to take. I don't have all day for this."

Joey stopped his rambling and turned back towards Seto, "Oh, yeah, I can definitely replace the windshield. We don't need to order anything—just take out the old one and put in the new one. It shouldn't take longer than an hour or two."

"Can you try and do it in an hour and a half? I have to pick up Mokuba from the train station in two hours and I need to allow time to drive to the other side of the city to get him," Seto said, hoping Joey wouldn't pick up on the desperation in his voice.

Mokuba had been away at college for the past two months and, to Seto, it felt more like two years. This was Mokuba's first time coming home and as much as Seto tried, he couldn't hide how excited he was to finally see his younger brother again. Before he could pick up his brother, however, he needed Joey to fix his car.

"Sure thing, I completely understand. If you want to wait in the lobby, I'll get started on this right away."

Seto uncrossed his arms and relaxed his shoulders. At least Joey was going to get the work done in a reasonable amount of time which would put him on the road to seeing Mokuba that much sooner. Seto turned to leave the shop and wait in the lobby when a big, burly man standing at about Seto's height approached. He seemed angry, but his eyes looked past Seto and were focused on Joey. Seto stopped walking as the man passed, sensing there was going to be a problem.

"Hey man! What's with this bullshit? You replaced my brakes last week but my car is still making those weird noises. I'm a paying customer and I don't like having to come back here because you did shoddy work."

Joey stood up and turned around to face the man, "I replaced your brakes, yes, but if you recall, we recommended that you replace your rotors as well and you didn't take my suggestion. If you have any issues with the service we provided, please take it up with my manager."

The man grabbed a hold of Joey's shoulders, "Listen up, bud. I don't care what your manager says—I paid you good money to fix my car and I'm not leaving until you do what I paid you to do."

A pair of hands appeared between the disgruntled customer and Joey, pushing the two away from each other. Seto then moved himself into the middle, turning his attention towards the angry man, "I'm going to stop you right there and tell you to back off."

The man looked Seto up and down and smirked, deeming Seto a non-threat before he said, "And who are you supposed to be, Mr. Tie Guy?" Seto was puzzled by what he perceived to be an insult.

He then chuckled, straightening his tie, "Actually, I'm thee Mr. Tie Guy, thank you very much. I don't know if you've heard of me, but I'm Seto Kaiba and I basically run this town and everything in it so the last thing you want to do is piss me off."

Joey's eyes shifted from Seto to the disgruntled customer. The man didn't look convinced of Seto's insinuated power, "Is that so? Well, if you are so important, why do you care what happens to a mechanic that does shoddy work?"

"Because that mechanic happens to be doing shoddy work on my vehicle right now and the more we prolong this conversation, the longer I have to be here and I don't like wasting time. So if you have an issue with Wheeler, I suggest you take it up with a manager," Seto said, his eyes never breaking eye contact. Seto accepted the fact that he could never champion in a physical fight, but he would always win a psychological one.

After a long moment of silence, the disgruntled customer grumbled to himself and turned away. Seto looked down at his watch and rolled his eyes. Telling off that customer took way longer than he wanted. When he turned around, Joey was staring at Seto with fascination.

"Wow, thanks Kaiba. You didn't have to do that."

"I did, actually, because I really do have to be somewhere. Will you still be able to get this done in an hour and a half?" Joey tightened the banana containing his hair in response and put on his work gloves. Joey gave Seto a reassuring smile.

"Okay, good. That should give me enough time to get to the train station and pick up…" Seto's words trailed off as his phone started vibrating in his pocket. Seto pulled out his phone and saw Mokuba's name displayed on the screen. Joey turned away from Seto and grabbed his tool box so he could get started on replacing the windshield.

"Mokuba, what's going on? Is everything okay?" Seto asked, holding the phone to the side of his face after picking up the call.

"Yeah, everything's fine. I'm here! Where are you?"

"What do you mean? Are you at the train station already? I thought you weren't going to be there for another two hours."

Joey looked up from his tool box and looked back at Seto.

"Oh, did I not send you my new ticket info? I decided to cancel my other ticket and take an earlier train so I could be in Domino City sooner."

Seto let out a frustrated growl, "And when were you going to tell me that?"

"I'm sorry, Nii-sama! I thought I had sent you the new ticket I got but I guess I forgot. Do you want me to catch a cab back home instead?"

"No, no, it's fine. I'll be right there. Stay put, okay? I'll see you soon." Seto hung up the phone and shoved it back into his pocket.

He loved his younger brother, but Mokuba could be so forgetful when it came to sharing important information sometimes. He hoped that wasn't hindering his grades in school. Seto turned to Joey.

"Younger siblings, am I right? They can be so disorganized. I've lost track of how many times I've had that exact same kind of phone call with Serenity."

Seto looked at his watch and then looked up, "Yeah, sure, anyway… do you think I could drive this car to the train station or do you think I'm going to need to take a cab?"

"Oh, you can't drive this car with the windshield busted up like this. It's not street legal. If you need a car, you can borrow my truck if you want. You'll have to come back here anyway since I have your car."

Seto hesitated to accept Joey's offer immediately. All he wanted was for Joey to fix his car—he didn't suddenly want to owe Joey a favor on top of that. At the same time, Seto felt conflicted when he thought about Mokuba waiting for him at the train station. It was the first night Mokuba was back from college and Seto didn't want to delay seeing his brother.

"…Fine. I'll take your car. Thank you."

Joey took off one of his gloves and reached into his pocket. A key emerged and Joey tossed it to Seto, "It doesn't like going over 60 so be careful. My truck is the black one in the parking lot. I'll see you when you're back."

Seto didn't know how Joey could drive a car that couldn't go over 60, but he didn't take the time to think about it. He just took the key and headed towards the parking lot.

 **-YGO-**

Even though Seto took mostly back roads and detours to avoid traffic, it still took him a half hour to drive to the train station. Thankfully, none of the roads Seto took required him to drive over 60, so he didn't have to discover any issues with Joey's truck. The car itself, however, was exactly as Seto would've expected from Joey's car. It hadn't been washed in a while and the entire floor on the passenger's side was filled with trash. Seto gathered most of the trash when he found a place to park and was waiting for Mokuba to come out from the train station.

"Nii-sama, where's your car? And where did all of that trash come from?" Seto dropped the bag of trash in his hands into the public trashcan he found and twisted around to find Mokuba standing behind him. Seto pulled him into a tight hug and held the teenager up in his arms. Seto immediately placed him back down on his feet when he realized Mokuba weighed a lot more than he remembered.

"Whoa, when was the last time I picked you up? You're so heavy now!"

Mokuba laughed, "Probably when I was a kid. I'm a college student now, Nii-sama! My diet consists mostly of pizza and instant ramen."

Seto laughed and ruffled his brother's hair. It was good to have Mokuba back. Seto had forgotten how much just being in Mokuba's presence could lift his spirits and cause reason to smile once in a while.

"So… where did you say the car was?"

"Oh, yes, the car… so that's an interesting story; Wheeler is actually working on the car I used to hit that guy a couple weeks ago and I didn't know you would be coming early so I just had the tow truck bring the car to Joey's shop and then Joey lent me his car when he saw I was in a bind."

Mokuba pointed to the black pick-up truck to the right of where they were standing, "Is that Joey's truck?"

"Yes… how did you know?"

"Something about it makes me feel like it's the kind of car Joey would drive."

Seto placed his hand on Mokuba's shoulder, gazing at the truck that was at least ten years old and probably hadn't been washed once in that time frame. Mokuba was right—the truck screamed Joey Wheeler from a mile away. The only way it could be more Joey Wheeler than it already was would be if it had a Red-Eyes Black Dragon bumper sticker on it. Seto was thankful it didn't.

"Driving it is exactly what you would imagine, but at least it got me here," Seto looked down and smiled, "It's good to have you home, kid."

"Thanks, Nii-sama. It's good to be back."

The two of them climbed into the truck and Seto started the engine.

"We have to head back to the shop before we go home. Is that cool with you?"

"Sure, that's not a problem," Mokuba said, before turning to Seto, "So… did you and Joey suddenly become best friends since I've been gone?"

Seto nearly veered off the road upon hearing that, "WHAT?! Of course not!"

Seto straightened out the steering wheel and regained his composure as Mokuba went on, "Really? Because it kind of seems like you guys are. I mean, he's fixing your car and letting you drive his car…"

"That was only because he insisted! Believe me, I plan on never seeing Wheeler again after this."

Mokuba playfully shoved Seto and then turned to face forward again. Mokuba didn't know if Seto was telling the truth or not, but he had a feeling he would figure out the state of their friendship or lack thereof when he saw Joey at the car shop.

"So if you haven't been hanging out and becoming best friends with Joey while I've been gone, what have you been doing with your time?"

"Working, what do you expect? I know you think all I do is duel all day, but I do work once in a while," Seto joked, happy to change the subject from Joey to something more interesting.

"That doesn't sound like fun. What do you do on the weekends? Just wait for the week to start again? Do you even leave the house?"

Seto fell silent. He didn't know how to respond to Mokuba's questions… was he supposed to agree? Would Mokuba catch him if he lied instead? Seto gripped the steering wheel and tried to focus on driving.

"Oh, you know. I spend the weekend cleaning up around the house and other regular tasks," Seto said, trying to remember one notable thing he did over a weekend since Mokuba had been gone.

"Nii-sama, I know you have no idea what to do with me being gone but you know what would be a great use of your time? Online dating!"

Seto's eyes went wide, "Dating? Me? Oh please, Mokuba… you know I don't have time for that."

"The way you were talking about your weekend seemed to suggest otherwise. I mean, it's not that crazy of an idea! I'm at college now and honestly, it's a little weird that you haven't dated anyone before. You should really try it! And they make online dating super easy with these apps…" Mokuba took out his smart phone from his pocket and opened up one app.

"You can date people through an app? How does… I mean, aren't you supposed to go out on a date to date someone? I don't get how that works and honestly, I'm not interested. I'm perfectly happy being on my own."

"Oh come on, Nii-sama! You know THAT isn't true. And I bet you'd love it! There's this one dating app called OkDuelist that consists only of people that are duelists. I bet you'd find someone you'd really like on there!"

"You really think I would want to meet other duelists on a platform that wasn't a dueling arena? You're clearly the delusional brother between the two of us," Seto said, rolling his eyes, "Besides, like I said, I'm perfectly happy being on my own. How do you know so much about dating apps anyway? I thought you didn't need to use dating apps in college because you go to those things called 'classes'?"

Mokuba laughed and started rambling about the girls at his college and the friends he had made so far. Seto could hardly keep up with Mokuba as the boy spoke a mile a minute but it still made the older Kaiba smile. Seto enjoyed the sound of Mokuba's voice far more than his own.

As Mokuba continued with his rambles, Seto realized just how happy he was in that moment. It was hard to exactly pinpoint what it was that Seto missed the most about Mokuba because it seemed like he missed everything about having his brother home. However, Seto knew that what he missed the most was his company and the constant conversation. Seto could never tire of hearing his brother's stories and he was grateful to not be shrouded in silence as he had been for the past two months.

 **-YGO-**

 **A/N:** _It's HiKari here celebrating Friday with an update! I nearly forgot about posting this chapter because it's been a crazy month. Thankfully the craziness has ended and I'm happy I found some time to edit and update. I'll be honest, I'm not sure about this chapter title but it's all that came to me. If you ever have any suggestions for my titles (or my story in general), please let me know. Constructive criticism is always appreciated and welcomed on my page. In the meantime, thanks for reading and I hope you have a great weekend!_


	8. Chapter 8: Up Close and Personal

**Chapter 8: Up Close and Personal**

Joey gave Seto a final wave before turning back to the GranTurismo—a car so beautiful, even with the busted windshield, he had to take a moment before picking up the first tool. Joey grabbed a metal device that looked like box cutter that was bent sideways and began sliding the blade along the side of the windshield. The blade cut along the mold that kept the windshield in place, and Joey kept a steady hand as he moved it along the edge of the frame. He pondered why such a device was called a cold knife if it was never cold, which led him to ponder how he didn't know the history behind a tool he regularly used as a mechanic.

 _Pop!_

The moment the mold was stripped, the glass fell into the car and shattered on the front seats of the car. Joey grumbled to himself that he should've anticipated that it would fall inward, considering the way the glass had been broken in. He threw down the cold knife and took off his gloves before grabbing a dust pan and a small hand vacuum. Joey silently hoped his manager, Fumiya, was busy with other customers—the old man would have a field day making fun of him for such a rookie mistake.

Joey began with carefully picking up the large pieces of glass first before using the dust pan. His mind wandered with the gathering of each piece, thinking back on every windshield he had ever replaced and not one had collapsed in like this. Joey tried to remember exactly how many windshields he had replaced, but instead all he could think about was the fact that he had been working at the same shop for the past six years.

It started out as an after school gig when he was 16; Joey wanted something to do that helped him avoid going home while also making him some cash. He wanted to move out as soon as possible and spend as little time as possible at home with his dad. By the time Joey's friends were getting ready to go to college, Joey had made enough money to move into a small efficiency apartment on the outskirts of town. He knew there was no way he could afford to go to college, despite his friends' encouragement that he should go. He recalled the last time he had seriously talked to his friends about his plans after high school all those years ago.

"You know there's financial aid, right? The government can give you grants and let you take out loans based on your income. You would totally qualify!" Yugi said after Joey admitted to not having applied to any colleges due to his financial situation. Joey could maintain appearances with the rest of his friends, but Yugi was his best friend and could always see right through the facade.

Joey shrugged, turning away to look out the window of the quiet coffee shop they were sitting in. The sun was already beginning to set in the early afternoon and the sunlight made the frost on the window look like tiny crystals. It was December which meant acceptance letters were starting to come in the mail and none were coming for Joey. Yugi had already gotten early acceptance into many of the schools he applied for and while Joey was happy for him, Joey didn't know how to tell him the truth. Or rather, Joey didn't know how to tell Yugi the truth without causing Yugi to feel sorry for him.

"I dunno, man. I just don't think I'm meant to go to college, you know? Not everyone is… and honestly, I feel like I've got a good thing going at Fumiya's shop. He says I won't have to work the front desk anymore—pretty soon he's gonna train me to be a mechanic!" Joey exclaimed, putting on a more hopeful tone. Yugi didn't seem the least bit hopeful or optimistic… if anything, he looked more concerned for Joey.

"But… do you really want to be a mechanic? Is that what you wanna do for the rest of your life? You have to start thinking about the long-term now and how things will look on your resume later on." Joey took a long swig of his coffee; buying time to think of a way to say that the path he would probably go down wouldn't require a resume. Yugi was so smart—it made sense that he would go to college. For Joey, it was a different story and a different situation. Yugi was too optimistic to see that.

"I don't know what I want to do, but does anyone, really? I think I'm gonna take a gap year—I've heard of other people doing that. I'll take the year to learn how to be a mechanic and use it as an opportunity to learn more about the ins and outs of the car business," Joey said, "At the very least, I'll learn enough to be able to fix my friends' cars for them. What do you think about free oil changes for life?"

Joey chuckled to himself when he remembered saying that to his best friend; Yugi never took him up on the free oil changes after he moved. His car never went with him and he especially didn't take his car when he moved to America to be an archeologist. Joey's chuckles ceased when he realized that gap year turned out to be more than a year and he never did figure out what he wanted to do instead of being a mechanic.

"Wheeler! Are you daydreaming again? Stop drooling over your friend's fancy car and get to work! I have customers left and right and let it be known that I'm not happy that you aren't charging this guy for the windshield." Joey's head snapped up upon hearing Fuyima's angry shouts from the garage doorway. His skull crashing right into the empty frame of the windshield and Joey yelped from the pain.

"What was that, Wheeler?"

"Nothing, Sir! I'll be done soon. Just gotta finish cleaning up the glass before I put in the new windshield."

Joey heard the slam of the door and he relaxed. He was alone again and there were only the small shards of glass left to clean up. Joey grabbed the small hand vacuum and used it to get into the crevices of the front seats, picking up any stray shards that manage to sneak away from him. He wiped the sweat from his brow when he was finished before walking over to the new windshield.

Joey grabbed a spray can full of adhesive primer and then sprayed it along the outer edge of the windshield. After laying down a coat of primer, he took a pen-like tool and ran the edge of it along the windshield to further set in the primer. He took a deep breath, making sure that he was precise with the second coat of primer. This would help set the windshield into place.

'This isn't a bad field to be in—everyone needs help with their cars! I get to help people every day,' Joey thought to himself, getting lost in his own thoughts. What was so wrong with being a mechanic? He had fixed Serenity's car plenty of times and saved her hundreds of dollars as a result. He was always honest with the customers that came in with their car troubles and never overcharged them for the work that he did. Being a mechanic wasn't a terrible field to be in.

What was terrible was the way people looked at him. It was the same look Seto had given him the night that they ran into each other at the bar and it's the look every customer gave him when they first entered the garage. It was a look of disdain… a look that made it seem like Joey was less than. The best way Joey could summarize it after six years of working at a car mechanic shop was a mixture of disgust and pity. He despised the way people looked at him and perhaps the worst part was when, every morning that was the way he saw himself.

After setting the mold on the frame of the windshield, Joey turned to grab the windshield glass itself and install it. He slowly slid the glass into place, letting the mold form around the edges of the glass. This was probably Joey's favorite part about replacing a windshield… letting the mold set was really relaxing. Joey took a step back, letting the mold harden, and thought to himself that it didn't matter what other people thought or the way they looked at him. He was good at his job and he enjoyed it. He could find peaceful moments like these that centered him. Joey closed his eyes for a moment and took a deep breath. Why was there so much pressure for him to live a different life than he was living now? Wasn't happiness subjective and whatever Joey deemed it to be?

"Do you really want to be a mechanic for the rest of your life?" Yugi's question echoed in Joey's mind and caused his eyes to suddenly open. Joey looked back at the car and cursed at himself when he realized he put in the wrong windshield—the glass was entirely too long at the top and stuck out way past where the sides of the frame ended. He had pulled the wrong windshield model for Seto's car and would have to go through the replacement process all over again. Joey slammed his hand on his forehead, continuing to curse at himself as he heard the garage door open.

"I'm taking off, you good to close up shop tonight?" Fumiya asked from the doorway.

"Yeah… sure," Joey said, sounding defeated. His mood wasn't helped when he heard Fumiya begin to laugh. Joey didn't bother asking what Fumiya found funny—he had a feeling that he knew what it was.

"All that time you spent drooling over this car and you couldn't even spend a second to make sure you had the right windshield? Have fun with that!" Fumiya proclaimed before leaving and shutting the door behind him. Joey felt he deserved Fumiya's mocking so he didn't protest it. He looked at his watch and realized it was getting late and that Seto would probably be showing up soon to pick up his car. He wouldn't be able to finish it until the following morning.

"Kaiba is gonna give me crap about this…" Joey stated, beginning to pack away his tools so he could close up shop for the night. He was better able to bury his embarrassment about the mistake he made once he turned off the lights in the shed and exited the shop. Joey was locking the door when he heard shouting from across the parking lot.

"Wheeler, where's my car?" Seto shouted over to Joey after he and Mokuba got out of the car. Joey took a moment before turning around; preparing himself for whatever onslaught of insults that would be coming his way once Seto found out the car wasn't ready.

"I'm sorry, Kaiba. I made a mistake while putting in the windshield so it took longer than expected. I'll have your car ready bright and early tomorrow morning," Joey said as he turned around. A big smile, and a bit of disbelief, appeared on Joey's face when he saw Mokuba. "Would ya look at that? A big man we've got here! I remember when you used to be so small and kidnap-able."

Joey walked over and gave Mokuba playful nudge when greeting him. Joey was astonished to find that Mokuba was at eye level with him. He searched his mind, trying to remember the last time he saw Mokuba… it had to have been when the kid was still Yugi's height, at the very least. Joey was surprised by how alike the two brothers looked—despite grave differences in appearance, their facial structure was practically the same.

"Hey Joey, thanks for taking care of my brother while I was away. Nii-sama sure knows how to get himself into trouble, doesn't he?" Joey laughed and Seto placed his hand on Mokuba's shoulder.

"Yes, that's very funny Mokuba. We'll need to get going now. Here are your keys, Wheeler," Seto declared, tossing the keys over to Joey before pulling out his phone, "I'll call us a cab. I'm sure you're starving." Seto, although annoyed that his car wasn't fixed yet, wouldn't let anything get in the way of him finally spending some quality time with his younger brother… and getting as far away from Joey as possible.

Mokuba looked up at his brother and then turned to Joey.

"You should come to dinner with us, Joey. I mean, if you don't have any other plans," Mokuba stated. Seto's head twisted so fast, it could've fallen off were it not attached to his body.

"What?! Why?"

"Don't be rude! Joey is fixing your car… the least you could do is take him to dinner."

"He's getting my business! I don't owe him anything."

"Hey now, let's remember that I'm fixing your car for free. You're not giving me any business," Joey interjected.

"Oh please, Wheeler. The fact that people see Seto Kaiba getting his car fixed here is going to bring plenty of business to this dump," Seto remarked. Joey shook his head, as if trying to keep himself from getting too upset. All he had to do was walk away and go home, Joey kept telling himself. He didn't need to get into a dumb argument with Seto, not tonight…

That part of him, however, wasn't stronger than his desire to have any sort of justification to punch Seto square in the face.

"Let me guess, you think I work at a dump because my truck isn't a Maserati?" Joey asked, taking a step forward.

"No, you work at a dump because your car can't go over 60 miles per hour and you, the mechanic, can't even fix that." Mokuba moved to stand in between Joey and Seto who were standing a little too close to one another at that point. Both of them had their fists at their sides, both their stances insinuated that they were about to get into a brawl.

"Whoa, guys! Cut it out! Can't we all just get along?"

"No!" Seto and Joey barked at the same time. Mokuba furrowed his brow—now he was starting to get annoyed.

"Well, you're going to have to because you're both coming to dinner with me now."

Joey shook his head and said, "No way am I going to dinner with Kaiba. I'm sorry, Mokuba. I'm glad to see you're all grown up and everything but I'd rather finish the windshield tomorrow and never have to see your brother again."

"But Joey, don't you want to hear about your sister? I ran into her at a party a couple weeks ago."

The anger suddenly disappeared from Joey's face and was replaced with concern.

"A party? Where? Was she with someone?!" Joey asked, taking hold of Mokuba's shoulders.

Seto looked equally as concerned when he replied, "You promised me you would let me know if you were going to a party. What if something had happened to you?! Was there alcohol at this party?"

Mokuba took a step back, feeling overwhelmed by Joey and Seto's sudden attention on him. He immediately regretted trying to find common ground as an attempt to get Joey to come to dinner with them. Mokuba didn't know how to respond so he put his hands behind his back and forced a smile.

"Oh man, would you look at the time? We should probably head to dinner now…"

Seto and Joey looked at one another, internally deciding whether information was worth more than dealing with the other's presence. Mokuba slipped out his phone to call a cab but Joey took out his keys first. He motioned for the Kaiba brothers to follow him to his car.

"Come on, we can take my car. Just tell me where to go," Joey grumbled with a slight tone of annoyance.

"I thought you didn't want to come to dinner with us," Mokuba asked, instantly regretting his decision to try and force Seto and Joey to spend an evening together. Mokuba turned to Seto to see if his older brother would object but he put a hand on Mokuba's back and guided him towards the car.

"I'll let Joey ask you all of his questions in the car, but you better be prepared to answer my questions when we get there," Seto said, giving Mokuba a stern look before the three of them got into the truck. Mokuba sighed, upset that he had set himself up for a rough evening.

 **-YGO-**

 **A/N:** _Happy first day of spring! It's funny to be saying that, though, considering I'm staying home from work due to the snow today. So I suppose you could say this update was brought to you by snow! In other news, I'm pretty proud of how this chapter came out and I have to thank Rena Redhead for the suggestion in direction. I hope you guys have been enjoying this story so far and enjoyed this chapter even more. Thanks for reading and I'll see you next month!_


	9. Chapter 9: Butting Heads

**Chapter 9: Butting Heads**

Mokuba was happy when the food arrived because it gave him a break from answering Seto and Joey's questions. Mokuba was beginning to think the party wasn't nearly enough fun to be worth the interrogation he experienced. Joey and Seto sat silently as the waitress laid down the plates of food in front of all three of them but their eyes never left Mokuba.

"Enjoy!" The waitress said before turning away.

The moment she did, Mokuba grabbed his glass of water and began gulping it down, just as Seto and Joey geared up to start asking more questions.

"So you're telling me that Serenity didn't go to that party with any guys? There wasn't any male that was talking to her the whole night?" Joey asked, leaning forward.

"And, to be clear, you said there wasn't any alcohol either, right?" Seto followed up with.

Mokuba continued to drink his water and closed his eyes—he wished his glass was filled with infinite water so that he would never have to answer another question again. Seto and Joey rolled their eyes. Joey replied in defeat, "Alright, you can quit it with the water. We get it—you don't want to talk about it anymore."

He picked up his chopsticks and started eating the sushi that was in front of him. It wasn't until after his first bite that Joey realized how absolutely famished he was. The sushi started flying into his mouth more and more quickly.

Seto turned to Joey, annoyed, and Mokuba finally put down the glass of water, gasping for air.

"Could you not eat like a stray dog? This isn't some grungy 24-hour diner we're eating at," Seto said with disgust.

"Don't judge me—I worked a long and hard day! I'm starving."

Seto rolled his eyes; he didn't feel like fighting. He picked up the container of soy sauce and started pouring some on his sushi. Seto felt a low growling in his stomach; perhaps Joey wasn't the only one that was starving. Seto broke his chopsticks and also started to eat.

"Was it busy today at the car shop? Were there a lot of people? How many cars do you usually fix?" Mokuba asked, very happy to change topics.

"Oh, there are always lots of people at the shop, but not always lots of cars. I'd say today was probably an average day for us as far as work to be done but it can be exhausting," Joey said, shoving sushi into his mouth in between each word.

"Well, that's good. If Nii-sama had it his way, he would never have to see people on a regular basis—he'd work from home for the rest of his life. It's why I require that he get one social interaction a week."

Joey's chopsticks dropped to the table as he looked up, "Wait, you _require_ your brother to get social interaction?"

"Yeah, you know, like homework."

Seto's eyes shot up from his plate, "That's enough, Mokuba. I hardly think this is the time or place to be discussing this."

Mokuba turned to Joey, ignoring Seto, and continued talking, "Why do you think you saw Seto in the city that day when he ran that guy over? He was at the grocery store for his social interaction… otherwise he would just buy his groceries online because my brother is weird and hates people."

Joey burst out laughing. Seto, on the other hand, slammed his fist on the table. Mokuba tried to bury his own urge to laugh when he saw how angry Seto was getting.

"I didn't come here to be mocked."

"Oh Nii-sama, don't be so sensitive," Mokuba said and then his phone vibrated. Mokuba took it out and looked at it, "Hey, uh, is there any way we'll be finishing up soon?"

Seto raised an eyebrow, "Don't tell me you're bored of making fun of me already… we haven't been here that long. Who did you get a text from?"

Mokuba quickly shoved the last couple bites of sushi into his mouth before prepping to leave. Meanwhile Joey's laughter was just starting to wind down. Seto ignored Joey—his eyes and attention were now glued to Mokuba's phone, overwhelmed with curiosity as to who it was that texted him.

"It was from one of my college friends. There's a dueling tournament happening on campus tonight and we wanted to go see it. I bought my return train ticket to go back to campus before I got to Domino City."

Seto looked down with disappointment. He had expected Mokuba to stay at least for the weekend but remembered that Mokuba didn't specify how long he would be staying in town when he came to visit. The elder Kaiba was unhappy, to say the least, but he didn't want to appear upset by his brother wanting to have fun with his friends. Seto had to remind himself that these were the experiences Mokuba was supposed to have in college before looking up.

"A dueling tournament you say? That's pretty cool! If that's the case, I can get you back to the train station in no time," Joey said before turning to Seto, "Then I can swing by your place and drop you off, Kaiba."

Seto winced at the suggestion that Joey would be providing him with yet another favor but Seto was too defeated to argue about taking a cab. He was still dejected about Mokuba leaving so soon after his arrival. The young CEO forced himself to exchange his sorrow with support for his brother's sake.

"Let me flag down the waitress first and pay our bill then we can go," Seto assured Mokuba, looking around the restaurant to try and spot their waitress.

Mokuba stared at his older brother, noticing something he hadn't before. Seto was sitting across the table from Joey and yet his guard wasn't up. Seto, for the most part, seemed very at ease. Mokuba turned his attention to Joey, whom was busy gobbling food down his throat. In Mokuba's experience, the only time he had seen Joey in the same room as Seto and not trying to pick a fight was when both of them were talking to other people or ignoring each other. Mokuba felt like he was seeing a whole new side of his brother and his brother's greatest annoyance.

"What's with the creepy look, kid? You see something you like?" Joey asked, breaking Mokuba's trance.

"Oh, uh, nothing! I was just remembering that the person dueling tonight runs Red-Eyes Black Dragon in their deck. I'll have to let you know who wins next time we talk," Mokuba said, getting up from the table when he saw that Seto was finishing signing the check. Joey got up as well and smiled.

"It sounds like a kid you outta become friends with. He's smart!"

"Really? You think two tributes for 2400 attack with no special effect is smart? Get real, Wheeler," Seto said with a laugh, following Mokuba and Joey out of the restaurant. Seto and Joey then launched into an argument that lasted the entire car ride over to the train station and Mokuba reconsidered his previous theory.

Maybe there was nothing different about Seto and Joey. Maybe they were both just too hungry to fight with each other over dinner. And maybe, just maybe, Mokuba would consider catching a ride with a cab next time he came home from college.

 **-YGO-**

"He's a good kid… but I'm sure you know that."

Seto lifted up his head from leaning on the car window and turned to Joey. The two were alone now after having dropped off Mokuba at the train station and had spent the last 20 minutes in silence. Seto had welcomed the break in conversation and was very sad to see that break end. Seto sat up straight before speaking.

"He is, and he gets none of it from me. The older Mokuba gets, the more I wonder how he became the person that he is. Our intellect comes from the same branch, I guess you could say… but his personality and outlook on life is completely his own," Seto remarked, watching each streetlight as it passed overhead. Joey was driving in a part of Domino City that Seto was unfamiliar with but Joey assured Seto that he knew where he was going. Whichever route got Seto home sooner was definitely preferred.

"Yeah, funny how that works out, huh? Your brother or sister can have the same parents and be raised in the same place and yet siblings can grow up to be completely different people. It's like you wouldn't even know you were related to them had you not grown up with them—it's how I feel about Serenity sometimes too," Joey said, leaning back in his chair as he thought about his younger sister and the differences in the lives they both led.

Seto knowingly nodded in agreement. Then he froze and his eyes widened; was he actually relating to Joey? Seto had to take a step back and consider what was happening. The very thought scared him.

 _BOOM!_

The car shook and smoke emanated from under the hood.

"Aw, dammit!" Joey said, slamming his hand against the steering wheel. He pulled off the road and parked near the sidewalk. They were surrounded by apartments and streetlights but there was no one around.

"What happened?" Seto asked as they both got out of the car. Joey went around the front and lifted the hood of the car. Seto considered taking a look himself but he didn't feel like even pretending he knew anything about cars. All Seto knew was how to do was drive them.

"Shoot, the motor blew out. I'm gonna have to call my manager and see if I can get someone to tow us back to the shop." Joey flipped out his phone, angrily plugging in the numbers to call his colleague.

"Back to the shop? What about taking me home?"

Joey held up his phone to his face before saying, "Don't worry, I'll get my coworker to drop you off first. I do need a tow truck though. Driving my car isn't safe right now."

Joey waited anxiously with each ring until he heard his manager's voice pick up.

"Wheeler, do you even know what time it is?" Fumiya asked.

"Hey, so… my car is busted. Do you know who's running the tow truck tonight? Do you think you could have them pick me up? I'm on the west side of the city and I don't think I'll be able to drive it back to the shop in the condition that it's in."

"Choki is on tow truck duty tonight but he's on the outskirts of Domino so you'll probably have to sit tight for a bit. Text me your location and I'll give him a call but it could be an hour or two. Maybe next time you'll get your car inspected when I tell you to! And don't call me again after hours."

The call ended before Joey could respond. Joey turned to see Seto, his arms crossed, looking pissed. Joey shrugged and texted Fumiya his location before sitting down on the curb. It was clear that Seto was passing judgment but Joey had no excuse to give. He sighed.

"You should probably take a seat. It's going to be a while."

Seto rolled his eyes and then took out his phone.

"As if… I'm calling a cab and getting out of here. Thanks for giving my brother a ride to the train station." Seto pulled out his phone only to find that it was dead. Seto shook his head and muttered to himself, "This can't possibly be happening…" Seto, defeated, sat himself down on the curb as well. Seto tried not to think about the fact that they were in a weird part of town that was lit with streetlights and yet totally vacant. He closed his eyes, wishing he was anywhere else.

The next half hour of silence was painful for Seto as he was seething with each passing minute. Seto could've been home by now but instead he was stuck on the side of the road with Joey—the guy who supposedly fixed cars for a living. The more Seto thought about it, the more enraged he became. Seto turned his head to Joey and stood up.

"Can you seriously not fix this car? Do we really have to wait for a tow truck?" Joey raised his eyebrows when his eyes met with Seto's. Joey didn't like Seto's tone, but he took a deep breath instead. He wanted to remain calm.

"Believe me; I wouldn't be calling a tow truck if I didn't think we needed one. You're lucky my buddy, Choki, is the one who's towing us. Getting towed is expensive." Seto laughed.

"Oh yes, _I'm_ the lucky one… stuck out in the middle of nowhere Domino City with Joey freaking Wheeler, the only guy who literally fixes cars for a living but can't fix his own car." Joey rose to his feet. The hostility was beginning to rise within his chest but he took another deep breath. He needed to remain calm.

"Look man, I'm just as annoyed as you are, but let's not lose our cool. Choki is on his way and we'll be getting towed in no time."

"Great! I'd rather lose another soul-crushing duel to Yugi than have to be stuck here with you until your tow truck friend comes."

Joey walked over and stood opposite to Seto. Joey couldn't remain calm anymore. Instead, Joey let his temper fuel him as he yelled, "At least I have friends! Who the hell would be picking you up from this end of town if I wasn't here?"

"Oh, you mean if my phone wasn't dead right now? Tons of people could be picking me up right now and I wouldn't need a single one of them to be my friend. There's this thing called money and other things called cabs…" Seto replied, taking out his phone and waving it in Joey's face for emphasis.

"Sure, and that's coming from the guy who's never had a single friend in his entire life. Don't they say that money doesn't buy you happiness?"

"They do, but at least it would buy me a mechanic that knows how to fix cars."

The two men were standing only a couple inches apart from one another. Seto firmly stood still with his eyes locked on Joey. The air was thick with tension.

"You know, I can see why you've been acting weird ever since we ran into each other. You're embarrassed about your life, aren't you? You hate the idea that everyone left you behind and that you're just as stuck in Domino City as I am."

"Stuck in Domino City? Are you even listening to yourself? Wheeler, I'm the CEO of a billion-dollar company and you work at a gas station. The only one that's stuck is you."

"At least I know how to have a good time!"

"Oh, you mean getting drunk every weekend? I'm incredibly jealous! Tell me more about how your life is better than mine."

"There's nothing wrong with unwinding with a beer. I'm sure it must be hard for you to be walking around with a stick so far up your ass, it's practically coming out of your mouth."

"You know what I imagine is even harder than that? Working at a gas station… especially when you don't even know how to fix cars."

"Yeah… well… you lost to Yugi in a tournament you put together just so you could beat him but you ended up losing anyway on national television!"

Seto tilted his head down and smirked.

"And you work at a gas station. Wheeler, I don't think you understand. Even the fact that you're a third rate duelist doesn't compare to the fact that you work at a gas station. You don't even have business cards because who would want anyone to know that they work at a gas station?"

Joey balled his hands into fists.

"Your parents are dead!"

"And your dad is an alcoholic, if my recollection is correct. Just to clarify, are we having an argument now or are we just stating facts?" Seto stated, stroking his chin, "Oh, and did I mention you work at a gas station?"

"Here's a fact for you; you think that running your stupid company makes you this big and powerful person but you know what it really makes you? It makes you a weak, little boy that runs an empire to mask the fact that he has more insecurities than he does friends."

Seto grinned and placed his hand on Joey's shoulder.

"You know what, Wheeler? I'm gonna buy you a drink after we get your car towed because I'm sure you're going to need it considering the waste of a life that's waiting for you back at your apartment," Seto said with a laugh, "And if I were you, I'd keep track of those drinks. They say alcoholism is hereditary, though it seems like you're halfway there."

Joey wacked away Seto's hand on his shoulder and his fist collided with Seto's face, knocking Seto back a couple steps. Seto seemed void of emotion, as if he didn't know how to react. The redness on Seto's cheek bone was already quite visible—Joey determined a very nasty bruise would appear the next day and he instantly felt bad.

"Hey man, I'm sor—" But Joey's apology was cut short as Seto lunged at him, slamming a fist into his stomach. Joey was rendered useless for a few moments, trying to catch his breath, as Seto grabbed Joey's shoulders and forced his head down, kneeing Joey in the face. Joey was thrown back, cupping his nose as blood spluttered out and a yelp escaped from his mouth.

"You can keep the apology, Wheeler," Seto said, a little surprised but also absurdly impressed with the fact that he was able to land a blow on Joey. It had been years since Seto had been a physical brawl with anyone… he wasn't sure he still knew how to do it. Landing those hits on Joey boosted his ego immensely.

Joey wiped the blood from his face grabbed a hold of Seto's arm, swinging the CEO's body into the car.

 _SNAP!_

Seto groaned with pain. Joey was hopeful the snap was Seto's arm but when Seto keeled forward, he saw that it was actually his rearview mirror that had broken off. Joey was a confusing mixture of sorrow over his car and rage at Seto for what happened.

"Shit, are you serious!? Kaiba, you're paying for that."

"I would pay to have this piece of junk trashed before I would pay to fix the mirror," Seto remarked, running forward and tackling Joey to the ground. An onslaught of fists fell down upon Joey's face and stopped only when something sharp dug into his knuckle. Seto's hand retreated when he saw that he had deeply cut himself on what must've been Joey's tooth. Joey threw a fist right into Seto's eye while Seto was distracted and then flipped Seto onto the ground.

"If you broke my tooth, you are definitely paying for that!" Joey yelled before straddle-punching Seto in the face. Each blow knocked Seto's head against the pavement and his vision was starting to get blurry from the blood; he wasn't sure if it was his own blood or Joey's because blood was dripping from Joey's face. Seto's hand felt around for any kind of sharp object and landed on a rock he slammed against the side of Joey's face. When the punches stopped, Seto leaned forward and forced Joey to his feet before slamming Joey's body against the car.

"I'm not paying for a damn thing!" Seto lunged at him while Joey grabbed a hold of Seto's shoulders and slammed their skulls against one another. The disoriented Seto fell to the ground and Joey threw his body on top of Seto's, stabbing his elbow into Seto's stomach. Seto gasped and spurted blood from his mouth. Joey rolled off of Seto, and for a moment, the two men laid side by side, backs against the pavement, gasping for air and covered in blood and sweat.

The moon was shone brightly overhead and the streets became quiet as the night continued. The neighborhood was desolate and all Seto and Joey could hear was their panting and slight groaning. The two had beaten themselves into oblivion and neither of them had the strength to keep hitting each other. The fight was over.

 **-YGO-**

 **A/N:** _That's a wrap on chapter 9! This is probably one of my most favorite chapters I've written for this story so far (there are more to come, don't worry) and I hope you guys enjoyed it as much as I did. There's just something about having Seto and Joey beat the ever-loving crap out of each other that's absurdly entertaining to me. Does anyone else feel that way when they make their characters beat each other up or is that just me? Either way, thank you for reading this chapter! Just a quick update for you guys: there will not be an update next month so chapter 10 will be coming out in June rather than May. The reason for that is because I'm getting married next month! How crazy is that? I'd say it was crazy but then again, I've been planning a wedding for nearly 17 months so at this point, it seems pretty natural to me. All personal thoughts aside, you can expect the next chapter in June and until then, I hope you're having a great day._


	10. Chapter 10: Battered and Bruised

**Chapter 10: Battered and Bruised**

"Hey… Kaiba… you okay? Wake up, man. You're freaking me out."

Seto's eyes partially opened. They couldn't open completely as it was too painful to have them open more than partially. His vision was blurred at first, but his surroundings slowly came into focus within a couple seconds or so. The first thing Seto saw was a hand stretched out towards him. Without thinking, he grabbed the hand and let it pull him so he was sitting upright. Seto winced from the pain in his shoulder blades; he assumed the pain was from when he had made impact with, and had broken off, Joey's rearview mirror.

"Dammit…" Seto groaned; rubbing his temples before determining that was helping the migraine he was experiencing rather than hindering it.

"You passed out for a bit. I think we both did, but you were definitely out for longer than I was," Joey said, taking a seat beside Seto, "I knew you weren't dead because you were breathing, but I'm glad to get confirmation that I'm not a murderer."

Seto looked down at his hands and saw that he was covered in dried blood. He spotted patches of dried blood on his shirt as well. Seto turned his head to look at Joey and was happy to see that Joey was in the same, if not worse, shape as himself. He was particularly pleased to see how messed up Joey's face was. The sight of the blond-haired mechanic caused Seto to smile which immediately inflicted pain throughout his face. Everything was sore and Seto's smile disappeared because of it.

"How long were we out for? How long was I out for?" Seto looked up to see if the sky would be any indication of the time.

The city was still masked in darkness, save for the streetlights and the general light pollution, which didn't give Seto any idea of what time it was or how much time had passed. Seto closed his eyes, finding that keeping them closed was less painful than having them open. He wondered if anyone had seen himself and Joey passed out on the ground or if this part of town was really that desolate. He assumed someone would've called the authorities had they seen the condition he and Joey were in.

"I'm not sure how long we were out for… not long enough, clearly, since Choki still isn't here with the tow truck," Joey groaned, giving his bloodied knuckles a lick before wiping them on his shirt. Joey used his other hand to lightly touch his eye; the eye in which Seto rammed a rock into, and he winced when it was touched.

Joey turned to Seto and stated, "I forgot that real fights hurt worse than bar fights. When everyone's a little drunk, the punches aren't so well-aimed, or well-delivered."

"And I forgot that you work at a gas station, so as terrible as you are at dueling, you're in halfway decent shape to do some real damage with your fists."

Joey chuckled, "You forgot that I work at a gas station? That was all you kept talking about."

"Oh, that's right," Seto replied and then shrugged.

He regretted shrugging… that felt even worse for his back. He contemplated how much of the pain he was experiencing in his back was from the car versus when Joey threw him to the ground. Seto brought his hands together and felt his fingers ache with pain from the fists he was throwing during the fight. His index finger traced a deep cut on his right hand between one of his knuckles. He couldn't recall which punch caused that kind of damage.

"Man, you were really pissed. I could feel the anger in every punch. For a guy, who I assume pays people to fight his battles; you were pretty good at holding your own. I wasn't expecting that… although it probably didn't help that you were so mad."

"You made fun of my dead parents," Seto said with a glare.

Joey held his hands up, "You're right and I agree that was not cool of me to do… but you have to admit, you were being a jerk too. You basically made fun of my entire life."

"Yeah…" Seto chuckled. He stopped chuckling when Joey turned to him, looking very annoyed. Seto, out of sheer desire not to spark another argument, took a more apologetic tone when he spoke, "Fine, I'm sorry. Just please don't punch me with your dirty hands again."

Seto and Joey shielded their eyes as a bright light crossed their vision. Sounds of the first car they had seen in the neighborhood they were stuck in for however many hours pulled up to the curb. Joey brought down his arms and saw that it was the tow truck they had been waiting for. Joey struggled to stand on his own two feet as Choki emerged from the truck and approached the two battered and bruised men.

"Whoa, Joey… what happened to you and your friend? Did you guys get mugged?" Choki asked before looking around.

Joey shook his head, leaning against his car for support as he reached down to help Seto to his feet. Seto refused Joey's hand as he got himself to a standing position, using the handle of the car door as a way of hoisting himself up. Choki averted his eyes, finding it difficult to stare at the bloody messes that Joey and Seto were.

"We did this to each other, actually," Joey responded.

"What caused that to happen?" Choki asked.

"He started it!" Joey and Seto yelled at the same time.

"And who finished it?"

"Exhaustion," Joey said with a sigh.

"My will to live," Seto replied.

There was a silence that followed; Choki didn't really know how to respond and both Seto and Joey were too exhausted and in pain to say anything else on the matter. The badly beaten men just wanted to return home and get a good night's rest. Choki turned and walked towards the car to assess the damage, but stopped mid-step when he saw something on the ground. He reached down and picked it up.

"Um… did someone lose a tooth in this fight?"

Seto and Joey quickly reached towards their face to check their teeth. Seto was relieved to find that his teeth were all still there, whereas Joey growled with frustration. He grabbed the tooth from Choki's hand and turned to Seto.

"Are you serious right now? You knocked out one of my teeth?!"

Seto shrugged, "I didn't know I could hit that hard."

"I should probably take you guys to the hospital before I deal with the car. You both look awful."

"No, no, no, that wasn't part of the deal. I was told that I would get a ride home and I demand to be taken home!" Seto mustered the strength to yell, trying to assert his CEO dominance even while in total and insurmountable pain. He took one step forward towards Choki, letting go of the car handle, and continued ranting, "You listen here… I am not going to a hospital. Whether you decide to tow or junk this car, I don't care, but I will not be told what to do. You got that? I'm Seto Kai…"

Seto's sentence was cut short as his vision began to blur. The finger he was aggressively holding up to Choki fell to his side and the strength in his legs disappeared. Choki swiftly moved forward with his arms open, catching Seto before he could hit the ground. Choki looked up to Joey with concern.

"Now we really should go to the hospital. Your friend just passed out and, Joey, you should probably be admitted to the hospital too. You look awful."

Joey wanted to snap back with a witty comeback about how whatever wounds he had endured could be easily fixed with a good night's sleep and a bottle of whiskey, but his concern for Seto took precedent. As much as he hated Seto, he didn't want to get arrested for neglecting to take the guy to the hospital after beating him to unconsciousness. Joey nodded in agreement.

"Okay, fine. If you can get Kaiba into your car, we'll go to the hospital. But you better come back for my baby after you drop us off! That car means everything to me."

 **-YGO-**

Seto didn't know which was more annoying: waking from unconsciousness for the second time or sharing a hospital room with Joey Wheeler. Seto made sure not to make a sound when he awoke, not wanting to let Joey know he was conscious yet. He took in his surroundings—light was pouring in from the window of their hospital room, which meant that it was the late morning, and then he noticed there was an IV in his arm. Seto turned his head to find Joey in the hospital bed right beside him, fiddling with the remote.

"I thought we had agreed not to go to the hospital," Seto frowned.

"I'm glad to see you're awake," Joey looked up from the remote and placed it on the table beside him, "We decided to bring you in when you passed out again. Turns out we were both in worse shape than we thought and, on top of all that, you were severely dehydrated so that's why the doctors had to hook up an IV. They suspect that the dehydration is what caused you to pass out."

Seto crossed his arms and noticed bandages on his hands. He brought one hand to his head and felt a bandage or two wrapped around his forehead. He looked to his right and saw a bag of ice on the table beside his hospital bed. Seto grabbed a hold of it and placed it in his lap. His hands could barely feel the cold from the ice underneath all of the bandages but the cool that he did feel did somewhat help with the pain.

"That's to help with the swelling. I really did a number to your face," Joey remarked, "But hey! They were able to put my tooth back in. Luckily they had an emergency dentist on call and they put it in pretty quick… though it helped that they gave me painkillers beforehand."

Seto took a closer look at his bedside table; there was a small plate of food, a plastic cup with some water, and his cell phone which was currently plugged into a charger. Seto held onto the power button to turn on his cell phone before taking a swig of water. He leaned back against the pillow behind his head and closed his eyes, trying to recall the last thing he remembered from the night before.

"One of the nurses had a charger and let me borrow it so I could charge your phone. I didn't want you worrying about telling Mokuba—"

Seto put down his cup of water and turned to Joey.

"Mokuba… does he know? Did anyone tell him?"

"Not as far as I know, no. I didn't have his number, but I thought you might like to know that Serenity is coming to visit in a bit so I hope that's cool. When she heard about what happened, she decided to jump on train to see—"

"She didn't tell him, did she? I don't want Mokuba finding out about this," Seto said, grabbing his phone after it had finished booting up and making sure there weren't any missed calls or texts. Seto was relieved to find that only a couple emails from work had come in. There were no messages from Mokuba which meant he knew nothing about what happened.

"No, I didn't think my sister would have Mokuba's number but I told her not to tell anyone about what happened. I wanted you to be the one to decide how to break the story to your brother, not me."

For a moment, Seto felt a strange amount of respect for Joey and his consideration for Seto. The brief moment was interrupted by an incoming call on his cell phone—the name displayed on the screen was Mokuba. Joey sat up straight, his interest piqued when he saw that the call was from Mokuba. Seto took a second to compose himself before answering the call.

"Hey kiddo, what's up?"

"Hi Nii-sama, I was just giving you a call because I felt really bad about the fact that I didn't really stay long in town when I came to visit last night, especially after putting you through the train mix-up. I know I haven't visited for a whole weekend since I left but there's always so much cool stuff happening on campus and—"

"It's fine… it's totally fine. You're a college kid now and you're experiencing new things and, most importantly, you're having fun. You don't have to worry about me, Mokuba. You can come back for however long or short as you like; I'll always be happy whenever I see you," Seto said with a smile.

"Aw… thanks Nii-sama. I'm glad to hear that because that car accident coupled with the jail thing kinda made me worried that…" Mokuba's voice trailed off when he heard a new voice in the room with Seto.

"Oh, Mr. Kaiba, it's so good to see you're awake! Would it be alright if I took your blood pressure?" A nurse said as she walked into the room. Seto tried to wave her away as she approached, but she shook her head, "Now, now, Mr. Kaiba, I have a checklist I need to follow before I can let you check out of the hospital. Those items can't be checked off unless you and I work together to do so!"

"Did I just hear her say hospital? Nii-sama, who is that? Are you in the hospital right now?"

Seto's mind raced, scrambling to think of an excuse or something to say to throw off Mokuba's suspicion. His response was "What? No, of course I'm not in the hospital. Err, actually, yes, I am in the hospital. I'm doing my annual physical right now."

"Nii-sama, our doctor doesn't see patients over the weekend. Not only that, but why would you be answering the phone if you're in the middle of a physical?"

"Um… because you're more important to me than my annual check-up?"

Joey mouthed 'Come back later' to the nurse and she nodded before leaving. Seto felt slightly more at ease with the nurse gone, but he wasn't sure what else he could say to throw off Mokuba from finding out he was in the hospital. Seto shook his head and decided telling the truth was the best course of action.

"Okay, I was lying about the physical. I… got into a fight last night with Joey after we dropped you off. It got pretty bad and I guess I was also dehydrated, so I passed out and they took me to the hospital. But you don't need to worry because I'm all better now."

"Nii-sama, the one day you call me, you're in jail and the one day I call you, you're in the hospital?! What on earth were you and Joey fighting about that you got beat so bad that he sent you to the hospital?" Mokuba sighed, "And for a second, I really thought you and Joey were becoming friends."

"Friends?! Why would you think that? Did you think that coercing me into having dinner with him made us friends?!" Seto asked, feeling personally offended by such an accusation.

"You owe me another dinner after this, too, Kaiba!" Joey yelled from his hospital bed.

"Oh please, Wheeler. If I foot the bill for your tooth, will you finally leave me alone? That should be more than enough pay back for what I did to you."

"Wait, are you talking to Joey right now? Is he there with you?" Mokuba asked.

"Yes, unfortunately… but can you believe that I put him in the hospital and it wasn't from dueling? It was from my fists! I even knocked out one of Wheeler's teeth," Seto said with a laugh, "The fight got pretty bad but, like all dogs, I'm sure Wheeler will bounce back in a couple days."

"Would you quit it with the dog stuff, Kaiba?!"

Mokuba scratched his head with bewilderment. His older brother was in the hospital, and apparently sharing the same hospital room as the guy who put him in the hospital, and everything was… okay? Seto certainly sounded like himself, but the situation was so bizarre, Mokuba wasn't sure how to process it. He didn't even want to ask what it was that they fought about. It all sounded crazy and, if Mokuba was being honest, he had homework to do and he didn't want to spend all afternoon guessing the number of reasons why his brother would get into a fight like that with Joey.

"You promise you're okay, though? And I don't need to worry about you being in the hospital?"

"The hospital was a drastic measure on Joey's part; the only reason I'm here is because he insisted I see a doctor. I'm telling you, Mokuba, I'm fine. There's nothing to worry about."

"If you say so, Nii-sama. Just try and stay out of trouble, okay? I don't want to our next phone call to be how you're stranded in another country without a passport and with no money."

"No, I promise nothing like that will be happening any time soon," Seto laughed, "I love you, okay? Have a fun rest of your weekend."

"I love you too."

Seto hung up the phone and felt a huge amount of relief. It should be easier to lie about his life and his situation while Mokuba was attending college in a completely different city but somehow that wasn't the case. No matter, Seto was just happy to have a brother who could process the truth, no matter how strange it seemed.

 **-YGO-**

 **A/N:** _WOW! It's "been a minute," as the kids say, since I updated! Originally I was planning on posting my next chapter last month but that didn't happen because I came back from a honeymoon, then I went on a work trip, then I came back and went on another work trip, and then the entire month of June was gone. How does that happen?! I'm not sure but somehow it's July and I'm very excited to be getting back into the swing of things. Now that my wedding is over, I'm hoping I can get back into having free time and writing again. Thank you for your patience, reviews, and support during my absence. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and have a great July!_


	11. Chapter 11: A Matter of Fact

**Chapter 11: A Matter of Fact**

Seto set his cell phone down on the bedside table, relieved that the phone call with his brother went better than expected. He felt like he could finally relax… or relax as best he could while sharing a room with Joey Wheeler. Seto tried to ignore his disdain for Joey by taking up his water and putting it to his mouth.

"So I guess the phone call went well, then? It seemed like it went well."

Seto stopped drinking and glared at Joey, "Can we have a rule for the next however long they keep us here? Can the rule be that you don't talk to me anymore? I appreciate you bringing me into the hospital and not telling my brother about what happened but I'd just like to enjoy some peace and quiet."

There was a knock on the door and both Seto and Joey turned their heads to see who it was.

"You can come in," Joey said, blatantly breaking the no talking rule. Joey was hopeful that it was one of the pretty nurses coming in to take his temperature or check his pulse. His smirk disappeared when a familiar redhead walked in. It was his little sister, Serenity, looking more cross than he had seen her in a while. Joey gulped, anticipating the worst as she stomped over to his side of the bed, her eyes only glancing at Seto for half a second as she passed.

Joey worked up a smile before speaking, "Hey sis, I know what it looks like, but you don't need to worry because I'm oka—"

 _Smack!_

Joey's head twisted after Serenity smacked him clear across the face. Seto sat up in his hospital bed as the situation became interesting to him. Joey yelped in pain, rubbing his cheek profusely.

"Serenity, are you crazy?! Do you not see all of these bandages on my face? I'm trying to heal, crazy lady!"

"I can't believe you got into another bar fight! Were the cops called this time? Is Kaiba going to sue you for this?!" Serenity turned around towards Seto and gave him a wave, "Hi Kaiba."

"Hey," Seto said, slightly disappointed as it appeared that Serenity was done smacking Joey around.

Serenity turned her attention back to Joey and putting her hands on her hips, "How could you be so stupid as to get drunk and pick a fight with the richest guy in Domino City?!"

"You need to calm down—I wasn't drunk last night. The cops weren't called either and I can assure you that Kaiba isn't planning on suing me," Joey tilted his head so his eyes could meet with Seto's, "Are you going to sue me?"

"Not worth my time," Seto replied, picking up his phone and returning to his work emails. He had a sense of where this conversation was going and his interest disappeared. Seto didn't need to listen in while Serenity scolded Joey.

"See? Geez Serenity, I was hoping you'd be more worried for my well-being, not give me a bunch of crap."

Serenity rolled her eyes before saying, "Joey, I give you crap because I am concerned for you. It doesn't help that I have to worry about your safety as well as your stupidity."

"I'm your big brother! You can't call me stupid," Joey demanded, crossing his arms.

The sour look on Serenity's face melted away as concern took over. Serenity unexpectedly leaned forward and brought Joey into a hug. Joey, although surprised, wrapped his arms around his sister and returned the hug. Joey smiled because, despite the craziness of the last 24 hours, at least he knew he could rely on his sister.

"You are my big brother… and that's why it scares me every time I get calls about you being in the hospital. It makes me worried sick!"

Serenity broke away from the hug and Joey looked down, feeling guilty. He couldn't even recall the amount of times Serenity had seen him like this in the hospital and many of those times had been from drinking. He purposely didn't keep track because of how embarrassed he felt about his drinking and the trouble it got him in. Joey shrugged, searching for the words to say next.

"I know… I'm really sorry about that. I don't mean to worry you."

"Then can you make someone else your emergency contact? I can't afford to keep taking the train down to Domino from college every time you decide to beat Seto Kaiba up."

Joey laughed and then winced from pain. His body was still sore from last night's brawl. Serenity pulled a chair over to Joey's bedside and sat down. Serenity tucked her long hair behind her ear before reaching out and grabbing hold of Joey's hand. Joey smiled and turned his head—recognizing how beautiful she was and wondering how he was supposed to be a good brother and not murder every boy that tried to date her.

"You're not dating any boys, right?" Joey asked, unable to think of anything other than the blood of anyone that would try and hold her hand within a ten mile radius.

"Joey, I thought we agreed that we should never talk about me and dating. What was it that you used to say? It made your fists antsy?" Joey smiled and gave Serenity's hand a little squeeze. Her brown eyes could warm Joey's heart, no matter how badly he felt. It was possibly her smile—reflective of her positivity overall—that Joey liked the most about his sister. As long as Serenity thought there was good in Joey, Joey felt like there was still a chance he could be a good person.

"Yeah, who am I kidding? If you told me you were dating someone, I'd probably have to serve a longer jail time than Kaiba did," Joey chuckled.

"Well, speaking of dating, have you talked to Mai recently?" Joey's smile disappeared and his hand retracted from Serenity's.

"Why? I mean, no. But also, why do you ask? Have you talked to her recently?"

Seto diverted his attention away from his work emails over to the siblings talking a couple feet away, "Are you guys talking about Mai as in Mai Valentine?"

"Of course, the only Mai I know. Has Joey not told you about their break up?" Serenity asked, turning to Seto.

"They actually dated? But why would she waste her time with him?" Seto said with surprise and a hint of disgust. Although Mai had never proven to be a threat against Seto in the dueling arena, he had assumed she had higher standards than that of a third-rate duelist like Joey. Seto suddenly felt pity for Mai.

"I'm ending this conversation right now. The last thing I need is either of your opinions on my dating life. Do both of you understand?"

Serenity opened her mouth but said nothing. She got up from Joey's bedside and walked over to the other side of the room to the window. Serenity held up her arm in the light that was casting down from above and then turned her gaze towards the window itself. The hospital room was overlooking a playground of the school that was located across the street. There were only a handful of kids in sight, catching Serenity's attention for a moment.

She spotted a pair of children on the jungle gym—a boy and a girl—and her eyes focused on them. They were giggling as they climbed all over the jungle gym, their eyes constantly watching one another. Serenity wondered if they were siblings, purely by the way they were interacting and the fact that they were only playing with one another. Serenity thought about how she and Joey had once been that small and used to spend all their time together too. They didn't hang out with anyone else except with each other… that was until their parents got divorced. Her memories with Joey were limited following the divorce, since each sibling lived in a different household. Serenity never forgave her parents for separating her and Joey as children but there wasn't a lot that could be done now. She wasn't a kid anymore and she couldn't go back in time and create those memories she would never have with her brother.

Serenity turned around when she heard the TV turn on. Joey had the remote in his hand and pride all over his face. 'He must've just figured out how to use the remote,' Serenity thought to herself and chuckled quietly. Joey began flipping through the channels while Seto was swiping his thumb along his smart phone. She assumed Seto was going through work emails judging by the serious look on his face.

She turned away from the boys and looked down at the mini sink in the corner by the window. Serenity cocked her head to the side when she found two small, plastic boxes, stacked one on top of the other, by the faucet. She picked them up and held one in each of her hands. With a little shake, she heard the sound of cards shuffling from inside. Serenity smiled—they were deck boxes. She took less than a second to figure out which deck box belonged to who, considering one had a picture of Blue-Eyes on it and the other was incredibly worn out and old.

"Joey, you still carry your Duel Monsters cards with you?" Serenity asked and both Seto and Joey looked up. She held up the deck boxes so that the boys could see and their eyes grew big.

"Where did you find those?" Seto demanded to know.

"Calm down, I didn't take them from you," Serenity said, tossing Seto's over to him. Seto leaned over the side of his bed and caught it, "I just found them over here."

Seto quickly opened up the box to inspect his cards while Serenity walked over and handed Joey his. Joey did the same—opening the box and shuffling through the cards to make sure everything was accounted for. Joey was happy to find that all of his cards were as he had left them, closing the box shortly after.

"I thought you didn't play anymore, Joey," Serenity asked, not letting Joey's attention go back to the TV.

"Well, sure, I don't play anymore, but that doesn't mean I don't keep my cards on me at all times. You never know when you might run into a Rare Hunter again in this city," Joey turned to Seto, "Am I right, Kaiba?"

"The Rare Hunters disappeared after my Battle City tournament. They knew better than to mess with my city," Seto said sternly, still shuffling through his cards. He examined each card carefully as he was concerned that some may have been damaged from within the deck box by the way Serenity threw the deck over to him. He was relieved to see that all of the cards remained to be in pristine condition.

When Seto looked up from his cards, he saw that Serenity was intently looking at him.

"You don't get out much, do you?" Serenity asked.

"I beg your pardon?"

"I can tell by the way you just spent a good five minutes checking to make sure I didn't damage any of your cards. Oh, and by the way, when was the last time you even used your cards? You haven't dueled with anyone in years… have you?"

Seto furrowed his brow and responded with "What gives you the right to question me? What difference does it make to you whether I 'get out much'?"

Serenity walked over and snagged the remote from Joey's hand. She turned off the TV and was able to get Joey's attention as a result. The two men looked at her with annoyance and she rolled her eyes at their glares.

"I think you guys should hang out. I'm not suggesting that you guys have to be friends or anything but it's clear to me that neither of you have anything else going on. Maybe it would do you both some good to do something that didn't involve getting thrown in jail or the hospital."

"I'd rather kill myself," Seto replied.

"Same," Joey added.

"What if you guys didn't do it for yourselves? Why don't you do it for me or for Mokuba? Sometimes I can't sleep because I'm too busy worrying about you, Joey, and Kaiba, I'm sure Mokuba feels the same way. You guys can't seem to keep yourselves out of trouble without me or Mokuba around. So for our sakes, just hang out and see what happens."

Seto and Joey turned and looked at each other for a moment. As much as they felt revolted by the idea, Serenity wasn't wrong about them not really having anything else going on. It was hard for them to imagine, however, seeing hanging out as a true remedy of the situation.

Joey turned back to Serenity and raised his hand, requesting permission to speak.

"Yes, Joey?" Serenity asked, not sure as to why he felt the need to raise his hand.

"What if I took up a hobby like knitting? I would be less likely to blow my brains out doing that than I would spending time with Seto Kaiba."

"And I would like to add that all the money in the world couldn't get me to take up dog-sitting, Wheeler," Seto remarked.

Serenity huffed and tossed the remote to Joey. She then reached down beside the chair she was sitting in and grabbed her purse. She slung the purse over her shoulder and gave Joey one last stern look.

"Listen Joey, I can't make my life about rescuing you. If knitting would keep you out of the hospital then that would be great. But I think both of you bozos need to find something better to do than beat each other up. The fact of the matter is; everyone else has left Domino City. If you guys can't entertain each other, then all I can ask is to stop calling me and Mokuba when you guys get into trouble."

With that, Serenity stormed out of the room and slammed the door shut as she exited. Seto went back to looking at his phone, not impacted by what Serenity said. Seto considered the fact that Serenity was probably just annoyed because Joey was an annoying person to be related to. Seto couldn't possibly imagine that the burden she felt worrying about Joey was the same worry Mokuba felt towards him. Seto lowered his phone, remembering the phone call he had with Mokuba only an hour earlier.

Joey was very torn up about the way the conversation ended with Serenity but he didn't have the courage to go after her to apologize. It also didn't help that he wasn't in the best physical condition to chase after her so he thought it best to let Serenity cool off. Part of him also didn't want to admit that perhaps what his sister said was true.

Joey threw his head back onto his pillow and stared up at the ceiling. His eyes became fixated on the florescent lights overhead and wished that looking at them long enough could blind him. If Joey was blind, he at least wouldn't have to watch himself make a mess of his own life. His mind continued to wander; contemplating whether Serenity was serious about no longer rushing to the rescue when he got into trouble and if that was true… what would happen next?

 **-YGO-**

 **A/N:** _Happy Sunday everyone! Today is a special day because tomorrow marks one year since I posted the first chapter of this story and returned to the world of fanfiction after a two-year hiatus. The past 12 months have been a wild ride and I want to thank everyone who has reviewed, favorited, and followed this story. It's been encouraging and has also warmed my heart. The biggest shout-out has to go to Rena Redhead for being the catalyst for posting this story as well as my number one supporter. I appreciate having her as a beta reader and my dearest friend of over ten years. If you haven't read her story "Defying Destiny," you don't know what you're missing. It's fantastic! In any case, I hope everyone had a great weekend and that you enjoyed this chapter. See you next month!_


	12. Chapter 12: It's Just Lunch

**Chapter 12: It's Just Lunch**

The very thought was revolting to him. Seto was so disgusted with himself, in fact, that he was unable to sit still in his chair. His leg was continuously, a poor habit that Seto previously thought his step father had beaten out of him. Seto placed his hand down on the shaking leg, commanding it to cease its movement. He could picture Mokuba in his mind now, amused more than anything… but Seto just wanted the whole ordeal to be over. Seto pondered whether he had time to run, though it would've been in bad form since a waiter had just seated him at a table.

Serenity's plea from a week prior had no effect on Seto but was clearly effective with Joey. That made sense, considering the two were siblings, but Seto had hoped that the mutual hatred between himself and Joey would hold strong. That wasn't the case it turned out, since a few days following their discharge from the hospital, Seto received a call from Joey asking to hang out.

"Now when you say 'hang out,' what exactly does that entail?" Seto remembered asking Joey as a counter to the suggestion.

"I don't know. I was thinking you and I could grab a bite to eat some time and go from there," Joey responded.

"Do we really have to do this? I mean, I know what Serenity said, but do we actually have to listen to her? I personally disagree with what she said and think she's full of crap."

"Hey man, that's my sister, and while half the time she annoys the crap out of me, 100% of the time she's not full of it," Joey then paused before continuing, "Besides, I don't want to piss her off. She can get a little crazy when I make her mad."

"Sounds like a personal problem rather than a 'me' problem. Wouldn't you agree, Wheeler?" Seto changed his desk phone to speaker and put down the receiver. He then started rustling through some of the files that were lying on his desk before saying, "Besides, I'm sort of in the middle of something. You know I run my own company, right? I'm not sure I'll have much time for hanging out between now and never."

"Look Kaiba, I'm not really into this idea either. To be honest, the very suggestion made me sick to my stomach… but, Serenity suggested it, and she was serious about it. I don't know what Mokuba's stance is on all of this, but the fact that he requires you to have human contact means you and I are in the same boat; we don't have anything going on," Joey stated, "Let's just hang out once and if it's the worst meal in the world, we can at least tell our siblings we tried and go about the rest of our lives never seeing each other again."

Seto was thrust back into reality from the memory when a waiter came up to him and asked if he needed a refill of water. Seto shook his head and then looked down at his sleeve. The clock read 12:32pm. The mechanic was late for their lunch appointment. He uncrossed his legs when he noticed his leg started shaking again. He planted his feet on the ground and took a deep breath. He needed to somehow not murder Joey on sight… or at least not in the restaurant. Seto tried to focus on the positives of the 'hang out' which was exactly what Joey had promised: if it didn't work out, they would never have to see each other again. Seto was hoping for just that.

"Hey Kaiba, sorry I'm late," Joey said, running up from behind Seto and slipping into the seat on the opposing side of the table, "I couldn't find my keys and then traffic was a nightmare."

"Oh, so does that mean you were able to actually fix your car or did a real mechanic have to fix it?" Seto replied, hoping the comment would spark an argument that would end the lunch appointment sooner.

Joey laughed, "Nah, my manager Fumiya is lending me his car while I try and work out a deal to get my car fixed. You wouldn't believe what car mechanics try to charge, even for their own coworkers! It's ridiculous if you ask me."

"Are you two ready to order?" A waiter asked, appearing out of thin air.

"Yeah, I'm starving! I'll have the spicy umami miso ramen please," Joey said without needing to look at the menu.

"I'll have the vegetable soup ramen, thanks," Seto replied quickly, handing the menu off to the waiter. He was surprised by how quickly Joey had responded, but Seto wasn't sure why. It was only a week or so ago that he had shared his first meal with the mechanic and saw the way he funneled food in his mouth. It was clear to Seto that Joey was passionate about food… or at least getting it into his mouth as fast as humanly possible.

"Hey, thanks for taking the time to meet with me, by the way. I'm sure you have a lot going on at work with the company and the business and… you know, all that CEO stuff," Joey said, taking a big gulp of water after speaking.

"Yes, lots of business and company stuff," Seto replied, rolling his eyes. He scanned the room to see if there was anything else going on in the restaurant that could distract him from having to converse with Joey. Surely Joey was hoping the lunch would be exactly that; getting lunch and that being the end.

"Is it weird running your old man's company? I mean, considering you hated him so much? Do you feel like the employees talk shit about you like they did your dad?"

Seto's eyes fixated on Joey, "Excuse me?"

"Your dad, you know, Gozaburo Kaiba? I thought you said you hated the guy but now you're running his company and I just wondered if it was weird for you," Joey casually took another swig of his water.

"I'm not running _his_ company; if you recall, my step father's company created and sold military weapons and mine creates virtual reality and holographic technology for Duel Monsters. It's a completely different industry and a completely different company," Seto said with confidence, despite wondering to himself why he was even trying to explain the differences to Joey. He doubted Joey would understand the implications of posing a question like that to Seto.

"Yeah, but it's still Kaiba Corp. though. It was literally named after the guy who created it and now you run it and it's the same name. Is that not weird? It's allowed to not be weird, if you don't think it is."

"I think you and I may have different understandings as far as what qualifies as 'weird,' Wheeler," Seto continued, "Speaking of topics that don't hold any importance, what's the deal with Mai?" Joey froze in his seat and immediately averted his eyes away from Seto's gaze.

"Mai who?"

"Mai Valentine, who do you think I'm referring to?"

"What's there to talk about?" Joey asked, attempting to appear casual but failing miserably. He took up his glass of water and started downing it. He wasn't sure why, but Joey thought that maybe gulping his water to the point of choking would make him appear normal to Seto.

"It seems like there's a lot to talk about if you consider the fact that you started acting strange when I brought up her name and the fact that your sister referenced you and her breaking up."

Joey put down his glass when the brain freeze took effect from the ice cold water. His head shook with pain as the cold pulsed within his skull. He took a couple minutes to compose himself before stating, "There's nothing to talk about."

"Great! I didn't want to hear about it anyway," Seto exclaimed. The waitress brought their bowls of ramen before Joey could think of a response. Joey was relieved to have the subject dropped. He didn't want to talk about Mai, especially not with Seto. The two twenty-something's welcomed the silence between them while they ate.

Joey tried only to focus on his food while sitting across from Seto. There was nothing the two of them had in common; that much was clear. He regretted having listened to Serenity's suggestion. Joey should've at least tried using a meet up website first before trying to spend time with Seto outside of a dueling context. The thought made him wonder if there was a meet up group specifically dedicated to hating Seto Kaiba but Joey didn't feel comfortable looking a website like that up on his phone while sitting across from Seto.

Twenty minutes of silence passed and when the check came, Seto placed his hand on it before Joey could grab it. Joey suspiciously stared at Seto as he handed off his credit card with the check to the waitress. Joey reached into his pocket and pulled out some cash only to have Seto wave it away.

"Don't you want me to pay for my food? Is this supposed to be a date or something?"

"On the contrary—it's a bribe. I pay for your food and you never, ever contact me again. Sound good?"

"That sounds great!"

The two former classmates were positively pleased with themselves as they exited the restaurant, hopeful that they would never see each other again. When Joey reached for the door, though, he thought about the door that waited for him at home. It was a door that led to an empty apartment… one he had occupied for the past four years since Serenity had moved for college and Joey had moved into a one-bedroom, no longer needing a two-bedroom. His sister's cautionary tale of loneliness also started playing in his head—more importantly, her subtle threat that she wouldn't take his calls the next time he ran into trouble. And if Serenity didn't pick up those calls, who else would? That was the thought that scared Joey the most.

"Wait, Kaiba!" Joey's call stopped Seto from reaching his car that was parked only a few feet away. The young CEO didn't know why he had stopped—Seto didn't owe Joey anything, least of all his time. Against his better judgment, Seto turned around.

"What now, Wheeler?" Seto groaned, "I thought we had a deal."

"We did, but I wager that we make another one. I challenge you to a card game!"

There was a huge grin on Joey's face which made Seto suspicious. Despite knowing Joey was certainly scheming, Seto was too overcome with arrogance to ignore Joey's challenge. Seto walked back to where Joey stood.

"You seriously want to duel me? Right here and now? I didn't realize that lunch would make you eager to lose to me at duel monsters again after all these years."

Joey started grinning and shook his head, "I'm not talking about duel monsters. I was thinking more like… poker."

"Excuse me?"

"You know how to play poker, don't you? Texas Hold'Em? Maybe we could even play Black Jack or Craps if there's time."

"Wheeler, I hope you're not mistaking your loneliness for mine; I don't need to participate in gambling just so I can tell Mokuba I left the house today," Seto crossed his arms and turned away from Joey, insulted by the mere notion that Seto would gamble at all. A small part of him was curious about this 'poker' that Joey was talking about but he didn't want to let Joey onto that curiosity. Seto continued, "Besides, I don't even think there is a casino nearby."

"Kaiba, you don't have to be shy about it—if you don't know how to play poker, I can teach you! And to answer your question—yes, there are casinos everywhere. Does this mean you accept my challenge?"

"Why would someone like me ever go to a casino?"

"I thought you were the king of games, not the king of excuses. Besides, you might even be great at poker—or I might be way better than you. I guess we'd have to find out."

Seto wanted to object outright and leave again, this time with the hope that he really wouldn't see Joey again. However, the third-rate duelist's suggestions did intrigue Seto… he had never tried gambling before and Seto's intrinsic desire to play and master all games, particularly card games, was hard to control when interest was piqued. Maybe he could never see Joey immediately following a round of gambling or poker or whatever it was that people did at casinos.

"…Fine, you have my attention and I suppose I did block out the afternoon for our meeting. There's no harm in continuing if there are card games to be played."

"I'm glad you're on board!" Joey flipped out his phone and opened up his map application on his phone, "Let me look up the nearest casino and we can head in that direction."

"Is it weird to go gambling in the middle of the day? Are casinos even open at in the middle of the day?"

"Clearly you've never been to a casino" Joey replied and then lowered his phone, looking shocked, "The closest casino is called 'Battle City.' Does Kaiba Corp. finance casinos now?"

Seto snatched the phone from Joey's hand and took a closer look. What Joey was saying was correct—there was a casino only a couple miles away called Battle City. Seto had never given approval to establishing a casino but he also knew it had nothing to do with his business or his employees. Whoever had built this casino didn't realize the wrath of Seto Kaiba—or more specifically, his legal team.

"No, that isn't a Kaiba Corp. establishment but I can assure you that someone will be getting sued for this…" Seto said before handing back the phone to Joey.

Joey zoomed into the casino on his phone and looked even more perplexed, "That's so strange… my phone is saying that the casino is in the exact same spot as Duke's old dice shop used to be. Oh man, did Duke's dice shop go out of business and no one told me? Also, am I a bad friend for not knowing the last time I spoke to Duke? We used to be so close in high school."

"Which one is Duke supposed to be? Is he the one with the white hair that always seemed to disappear and reappear with your friend group?"

"No, that was Bakura which now that you mention it, I haven't spoken to him in an even longer time than—"

"Yeah, I don't care, can we go now?" Seto asked, taking out his car keys from his pocket and dangling them in the air.

"Sure, why not?" Joey followed Seto to the car and got in on the passenger side door. Joey searched his mind for the last thing he could remember of Duke but no memories were coming to him other than the memories from high school. Joey kept thinking to himself that it couldn't be right—high school was way too long ago. How could he have gone so long without talking to Duke or Bakura? Joey was astonished by how much time had flown by.

Whether he was friendless or not, it didn't matter to Joey because somehow he had convinced Seto Kaiba to go gambling with him.

 **-YGO-**

 **A/N:** _I can't believe summer is almost over… I feel like it was yesterday that it just begun! Either way, I hope everyone is having a lovely weekend. I had fun writing this chapter, though I'm not sure how I feel about that last sentence. It was the only one I could come up with and I didn't want to delay posting the new chapter. Speaking of new chapters, feel free to write a review and let me know what you think of the story so far. Until then, I'll be soaking up the last of the summer rays. Look out for the next chapter next month and thanks for giving this chapter a read!_


	13. Chapter 13: Dupe the Duelist

**Chapter 13: Dupe the Duelist**

"Where are the windows?" was the first question Seto asked upon entering the casino.

"There aren't any windows—or the windows may have been blacked out. Casinos do that on purpose, so people lose track of time while gambling."

"Oh, that doesn't sound healthy," Seto said, taking in the sight of the casino that surrounded him. He was still processing the basic rules of poker, or was it called Texas Hold'Em? Joey spent the majority of the car ride over to the casino giving Seto a very brief summary of basic poker and some information about Blackjack. It was a lot to take in and Joey wasn't the best teacher either.

"Let's quit yapping and start betting! Follow me—we gotta get cash for chips before we can approach a table and play."

Joey led the way through hordes of people. Many of the people that Seto saw were huddled around tables—Seto assumed that was where the gambling happened. There were also people that were wandering around the floor with colorful cocktails in their hands, sometimes with women dressed in even more colorful dresses draped on their arms. Casinos were unlike any place Seto had ever been to.

Joey slowed down his pace so that he was walking in tandem with Seto. He tapped Seto's shoulder and pointed out a man standing off in the corner of the casino with sunglasses and a formal suit on. Seto didn't know which was stranger—the fact that he was wearing sunglasses indoors or the fact that he wasn't interacting with anyone else in the casino.

"Do you see that guy? He's a bouncer. You don't want to mess with him or draw attention from him to yourself. They are the guys that lay down the law in casinos and they'll mess you up if they think you're cheating so watch out for that."

Seto was about to reply to Joey's warning when his body collided with someone else's. Seto turned to apologize when he noticed that the individual had familiar, pointy black hair and a dice hanging from one of his ears. Joey moved past Seto and pulled the man into a hug. Seto stood awkwardly to the side, not sure what to do with himself during this exchange.

"Duke! No way! It's great to see you, man. How have you been?" Joey broke away from the hug and looked at Duke. While there was no one with a pair of green eyes, or would wear dice earrings, like Duke, it was clear that a lot had changed in the years that passed. For one thing, he looked like some sort of mob boss. A bright red pocket square was sticking out of his pocket and his hair wasn't long anymore. A dark blue buttoned-up shirt was layered with a dark gray suit and pants. If Joey didn't know any better, he probably would've guessed Duke smoked cigars and threatened people in private like Joey was sure mob bosses did regularly.

"I've been good, Joey. Great to see you too! I can't believe you're here and…" Duke's voice trailed off when he saw that Seto was the person he bumped into before Joey pulled him into a hug, "Whoa, Seto Kaiba? What are you doing here?"

"I wanted to check out the casino that has an oddly familiar name."

Duke immediately tensed up which Joey picked up on. Joey turned to Duke and said, "Wait, do you know the guy that runs this place?"

"Well, uh… I am the guy that runs this place. I may have reconstructed my dice shop into a casino in an attempt to save my failing business," Duke folded his hands together and pleaded to Seto, "Please don't sue me!"

"Hold on, you own this casino? That means you run this place, right? What happened to Dungeon Dice Monsters?"

Duke whirled his head around, "Do you even have to ask? Everyone knows that was a colossal failure which is why I decided to start a casino. There's way more money in gambling."

"That's good to know because you'll be losing all of that money in the lawsuit, I'll be sending your way."

"Wait! Don't sue me!" Duke reached into his pockets and pulled out two leather bags that were shaped like cylinders. He unzipped the side of each bag and revealed a whole sleeve of plastic coins that were all different colors. He handed each stack to Joey and Seto. Joey looked amazed while Seto was just confused.

"These are on the house. You're both old friends—I want you to have a good time!" Duke said, wrapping his arm around each of their shoulders. Seto shook Duke off of him and Joey slapped Duke on the back.

"Wow, thanks for the chips, dude! That's great!"

"I'm not sure that these 'chips' are going to cut it, Duke. Just the royalties I'm owed alone will cost you—"

"I have to go; have fun you guys! Win big!" Duke said, conveniently receiving a phone call just as Seto started speaking and then walked off. Seto wasn't happy with how the conversation ended but Duke was quick to disappear into the crowd. He looked down at the plastic chips in his hand and wondered what the value of them was and what each color meant. Seto shrugged and turned to Joey. He had a concerned look on his face as he was scanning the casino.

"What's the problem, Wheeler? I came here to gamble, not waste my time," Seto stated, looking around to get a sense for what Joey was so concerned about.

"I want to gamble too but this place is full! There aren't any free seats and it looks like there are a lot of lines too," Joey said, "I can see why Duke turned this place into a casino. There were never this many people in his game shop, even when it first opened up."

"I see a free table over there," Seto tapped on Joey's shoulder and then pointed to one corner of the casino. In the leftmost corner of the casino stood one table, no people, and a very bored looking dealer. The dealer appeared to be shuffling and reshuffling the cards in his hands to pass the time. Seto continued, "Let's check that out." Joey didn't have any objections—it looked like it would be a while before any of the tables would be free and Joey knew Seto's patience was next to nonexistent.

When they walked up to the table, Joey spotted Duel Monsters cards instead of regular playing cards in the dealer's hands. Joey turned to his right to see Seto looking intrigued and immediately sitting down. Joey wanted to learn more about the game before he sat down and asked the dealer, "I've never seen this before. How do you play?"

"This game is called Dupe the Duelist and it is an invention of the casino owner himself, Duke Devlin. The way that the game works is that each player must bet to play, and then I'll place one card face down in front of each player. In the first round, the player must guess what type of card is face down; whether it be a monster, magic, or trap card. If the player gets it wrong, he/she immediately loses their bet," the dealer explained, "If the player is correct, he/she can choose to keep going through the rounds or collect their winnings. In the second round, a player must guess what type of monster, magic, or trap card and the same rules apply as the first round. The third round is where a player can make one last guess about the card—whether it be what the card is or another characteristic about the card."

"I can see why a game like this isn't very popular since it's entirely luck-based and lacks strategy," Seto said before tossing in a hand full of tokens, "I'm in."

"Hold on, you want to play? I thought you hated games that lacked strategy."

"I do, but I despise waiting even more and I want to see just how bad this game is so I can make fun of Devlin for it later," Seto responded, followed by a chuckle. Seto determined that any excuse to make fun of Duke Devlin would make up for the wasted time at the casino. Seto wondered when Duke would finally understand that he just wasn't cut out for inventing games or the gaming industry in general. Joey shrugged and sat down as well, tossing in the same number of tokens that Seto put in so the round could begin. The dealer shuffled the cards once more and placed one face-down card in front of Joey and another face-down card in front of Seto.

"You better watch out, Kaiba. If anyone is the King of Luck, it's me," Joey declared, leaning forward and staring at the card in front of him. There were only three choices he could choose from in the first round—that wasn't so hard. Joey closed his eyes, thinking back to some of his most intense duels from Battle City. The outcome of those duels came down to the Heart of the Cards; a tactic coined by Yugi but one that Joey relied on during his toughest battles. Joey opened his eyes and realized that his connection to the Heart of the Cards would help him win and then he could finally be better than Seto at a card game.

"That there is a spell card!" Joey declared with great volume.

The dealer slid the face down card in front of Joey towards him and lifted it up so that only he could see. The dealer nodded. Joey smacked his hands together, impressed with himself.

"That is correct." The dealer turned to Seto and asked, "Are you ready to state your claim?"

Seto's eyes didn't leave the face-down card in front of him from the moment it hit the table. Even though Seto held no respect for games that were based purely on luck, he couldn't cancel out his competitive nature and his desire to be the best at any game he played. In the presence of Joey, this desire became even more intense. It was then that Seto decided and looked up to the dealer.

"Mine is also a spell card."

The dealer performed a similar motion, carefully moving the card across the table and revealing it just to himself. The dealer looked back up at Seto and said, "You're right; this is a spell card."

"Whoa, that's awesome! Go Kaiba!"

"You'll need to place another bet if you wish to keep going. Or you can collect your winnings for this round."

Seto and Joey looked at each other and then back to the dealer.

"I think we're going to keep playing."

Joey tossed in another handful of coins and Seto did the same. The dealer shifted the cards back into position in the middle of the table, maintaining their face-down position. Seto was beginning to feel the rush he got any time he played a game—it was a combination of adrenaline and excitement. Round two would be interesting… Seto had determined it was a spell card, but it could be six different kinds. There were quick-play spells, field spells, equip spells, continuous spells, ritual spells, and normal spell cards. Seto wasn't sure how he was supposed to choose; it would all come down to whether he was lucky or not.

"I think mine is an equip spell!" Joey burst out.

"That was fast. What makes you so sure?" Seto asked, bewildered by Joey's confidence.

"It's the Heart of the Cards, man! It has never let me down in a duel and it won't let me down here either."

"Is equip spell your final answer?" The dealer asked to make sure. Joey nodded. The dealer then shifted the card downwards again to check and looked surprised.

"You are correct."

Joey leapt to his feet from his seat, "Woohoo! You bet I'm right!" The mechanic danced around for a little bit before grabbing a waitress and ordering a drink to celebrate making it through round two. Seto was just as surprised as the dealer… was it true that it was the Heart of the Cards that made him so sure? Seto remembered Yugi constantly going on about the Heart of the Cards, but he never believed there was any validity to it. Then again, there were times when Joey had pulled off an impressive move in Duel Monsters and Seto would much rather credit something made up like 'the Heart of the Cards' over the theory that Joey might be a talented duelist. Maybe Seto could access this Heart of the Cards magic crap and be victorious as well.

"Have you made a decision about your card?"

Seto looked back down at the table after being briefly distracted by Joey's dance. Nothing was on the line for Seto in this game… not his pride, his brother, or his company. Despite that fact, Seto wouldn't allow himself to lose in the presence of Joey. He spent a long time staring at the card in front of him, thinking about what Yugi might do to call forth the made-up magical energy that he called upon in a duel. Seto wasn't sure he had summoned that same energy, but a card type did come to mind.

"It's a normal spell card," Joey heard Seto say as he walked back over to the table with a drink in hand. A few bystanders had appeared and were standing by the table too, originally drawn over after all the commotion from Joey. The bystanders remarked about how they had never seen anyone play this game before.

"That is correct," The dealer confirmed. Seto didn't leap to his feet like Joey did but he was excited about the win. His excitement only revealed itself in a smirk.

"Are these guys actually winning?" One woman asked Joey after walking over to the table accompanied by her friend. A couple people had gathered at this point; one person even had their cell phone out and was taking pictures. Some of the people that had gathered recognized Seto Kaiba and started whispering with their friends. Joey was lapping up the attention while Seto was still focused on the face down card.

"Would either of you like to continue or would you like to collect your winnings?" The dealer asked, ready to collect Joey and Seto's cards from the middle.

"I'm gonna quit while I'm ahead and collect my winnings. Didn't you say the third round was either naming the card itself or naming some characteristic about it? That sounds nearly impossible to do so I'm folding this round," Joey said, collecting his winnings from the table with glee. He looked up and noticed some women had gathered and were send flirtatious stares his way. Joey turned away to hide his glee—he hadn't gotten a woman's phone number in months. Maybe hanging out with Seto hadn't been a complete waste of time.

"I'm going to continue with round three," Seto said and the whole group got riled up, speculating Seto's chances of winning.

"But why? It's going to be impossible to guess what that card relates to," Joey replied.

"How about we make things more interesting?" Duke declared, walking over to the dealer and capturing everyone's attention, "As Joey mentioned, there are two ways of winning round three—either by making a claim about what the card does or naming the exact card's name. If Kaiba can name the exact card, I will double his winnings." Everyone gasped and all eyes turned to Seto. Seto's face remained stoic but his eyes were still fixated on the card in front of him. Those observing the game became quiet, awaiting Seto's answer to Duke's challenge.

"I will proceed with playing round three and will name the exact card," Seto said, "I ask those not sitting at the table remain quiet while I make my decision and refrain from taking any more photos."

Seto was alone with his thoughts, instantly regretting his decision. 'Why am I doing this to myself?' Seto internally lamented. Now there was a group of people that would witness his lose. Seto took a deep breath and tried to center himself, focusing on the card in front of him. Was the Heart of the Cards real? Or could the Heart of the Cards be real enough to at least show him which, of the hundreds of normal spell cards, was the one on the table? Seto wished he could smack himself in the face—he sounded just like Yugi and that disgusted him.

Seto closed his eyes for a moment, remembering the hay day of Duel Monsters and the tournaments he competed in. For some reason Duelist Kingdom was the tournament coming to his mind… the stakes were so high back then. Seto remembered perfectly the anxiety from that tournament; Mokuba had been kidnapped by Pegasus while Seto had taken a leave of absence. Seto had failed to protect his brother and all he wanted was to get Mokuba back. There was one particular duel that was coming back to him—the one against Yugi, right before Pegasus. Seto had to beat Yugi in order to save Mokuba and he had to force Yugi's hand to win. It was not a great moment in Seto's dueling career, but it was what he had to do. In remembering that duel, the card name came to him.

"Swords of Revealing Light. That's my final answer," Seto said with a strange sense of certainty.

The dealer reached forward and flipped the card over, revealing to everyone surrounding the table what the card was. Shouts and cheers erupted from the group and even the dealer seemed excited too. Seto had guessed correctly and he stood up from shock, knocking his chair over. Joey and Duke were jumping up and down with enthusiasm.

"I can't believe he did it! I'm going to get so many girls' numbers because of this," Joey cheered.

"I can't believe Kaiba managed to popularize Dupe the Duelist!" Duke shouted.

"Okay, we definitely have to play this game," one person said, pulling out a chair and sitting down.

"Yeah, I want to give this game a whirl. I used to love playing Duel Monsters! I bet I'll be good at this game too."

Seto turned around as people approached the table, thrilled to share his win. The smile dissolved when he remembered that Mokuba wasn't there to congratulate him. Seto hid the disappointment on his face when the dealer gave him the winnings. "Good job out there—I have never seen anyone do that before," the dealer said before returning to the table. The table was now full of players hoping to take their chance at Dupe the Duelist.

"Dude, that was incredible! I can't believe you actually did that! And here I was thinking I was the King of Luck," Joey wrapped his arm around Seto's neck and gave the CEO a playful punch to the chest.

Seto immediately slipped out of Joey's arm, "Yes, even I will admit that was fun. Shall we go now?"

"Go? But you just got here! And now you're bringing crowds to my casino. You can't leave yet," Duke begged the two of them.

"What do you say, Kaiba? Want to go through a couple more rounds? I'm down if you are." Seto had to think about it. On the one hand, there was a pretty large quantity of chips both in his hands and in his pockets. On the other hand, Seto was probably wealthier than any person gambling at this casino so what did it matter?

"Fine, let's play a couple more rounds." Duke and Joey jumped up and high fived each other before returning to the table. Seto rolled his eyes. As dumb as the game was, it was fun to remember the thrill of Duel Monsters. At the very least, Seto hoped that this would count as his social interaction for the next five weeks. It was then that Seto smiled… he couldn't wait to tell Mokuba all about it.

 **-YGO-**

 _A/N:_ _It has been a minute as the kids say! A year, to be exact. Where have I been? Where did I go? Mostly nowhere, although I did travel a lot for work… and a lot of life stuff happened like fracturing my ankle and getting a new job. I suppose it has been a rather hectic year and that doesn't even include the stuff that happened that I probably forgot to include. Either way, life is finally starting to calm down for me (I hope) and I'm looking forward to getting back into the posting rhythm of things. A big thank you to Rena Redhead—she's an incredible friend and a big motivator for me to start writing this story again. Thanks for taking the time to read this and I'll be posting the next chapter a month from now! I hope you guys have a wonderful Labor Day Weekend in the meantime._


End file.
